FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Camille Tibaldeo
E: camille@fountaingallerynyc.com
P: 212.246.6543
Fountain House Gallery Will Present Artworks at Outsider Art Fair
February 27 – March 2, 2025
Metropolitan Pavilion – Booth D11
125 West 18th Street
New York City 10011
NEW YORK CITY – Fountain House Gallery, representing artists living with mental illness, announces its participation in the Outsider Art Fair, the premier fair dedicated to showcasing self-taught art, art brut, and outsider art from around the world. The Fair will take place February 27 through March 2, 2025, at the Metropolitan Pavilion, located at 125 West 18th Street in Manhattan. Fountain House Gallery, which has had a presence at the Fair for nearly two decades, will exhibit in Booth D11. Hours: VIP & Press Preview: Thursday, February 27, 12-6pm; Vernissage: Thursday, February 27, 6-9pm. Open to the Public: Friday, February 28, 11am-8pm; Saturday, March 1, 11am-8pm; Sunday, March 2, 11am-6pm.
The Fountain House Gallery artists whose work will be on view at the 2025 Outsider Art Fair are:
Judith Berman
Judith grew up surrounded by art and was encouraged to build her creative skills from an early age. She has embraced art and its holistic ability as a vehicle for expressing her inner demons. Judith lives with anxiety and depression and uses art to calm anxiety and ease panic. A graduate of Queens College, she works in the impressionistic and abstract styles in pastel, crayon, marker, and acrylic.
Nancy Caton
Nancy has been a resident of New York City for more than three decades. Her artwork is greatly influenced by her study of physics and mathematics. She works primarily with drafting tools, creating mathematical expressions inspired by geometry. Her work articulates the endless natural geometric structures of reality and highlights their unfolding beauty. Prior to her foray into creating art, she had an extensive career in the fashion industry including owning her own company, Nancy Whiskey & The Sewing Factory, a high-end atelier, for seven years. She is considered by industry leaders to be an expert in the craft of garment manufacturing. Nancy brings with her an immense knowledge of all technical aspects of the production process with an unparalleled attention to detail and an appreciation for a well-executed product. Nancy’s professional background is complemented by a philosophy degree from Hunter College, along with an incessant fascination with all things mathematics and physics related.
Issa Ibrahim
Issa finds meaning and purpose as an artist, musician, writer, filmmaker, activist, 25-year artist-in-residence at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center’s Living Museum, and now as an artist of Fountain House Gallery. “Knocking down the icon” has been a major theme since his teen years, influenced in the late 1970s by punk rock. Anarchic takes on comic strip themes stay with Issa and resonate, lending him the capacity to merge the lowbrow with the erudite, the truth behind the fairy tale – what he calls “a fun house reflection of a bankrupt culture.” Issa is the author of the 2016 memoir The Hospital Always Wins. He has been featured on German public television, in an HBO documentary, and in an Edward R. Murrow and Third Coast award-winning NPR audio story. By creating “what if” scenarios, and infusing loving homage and nostalgic longing with harsh realities and biting satire, Issa wishes to express something honest and meaningful about contemporary society and the world we live in.
Roger Jones
Roger’s preferred subject matter for his acrylic paintings includes scenes of New York City and its people, and representations of nature. His early work in portraiture has evolved into representations that often feature a multitude of faces inhabiting an urban environment. Primarily self-taught, he studied painting and book arts such as bookbinding via programs at the organization Community Access, and cites the works of Picasso as an ongoing source of inspiration. His work has been presented at the Outsider Art Fair, and in a group exhibition at White Columns. Roger also creates jewelry pieces and offers them for sale at local bazaars.
Ray Lopez
Born in Brooklyn, Ray studied art at Kingsborough Community College. He works in acrylic, watercolor, marker, ink, and collage, and he participated in the Studio program at HAI. Says Ray, "I hope to make art for the next 50 to 100 years."
Nicolaus J. Myers
Nicolaus hails from Pennsylvania and holds a BS in Nursing from Western Governors University in Salt Lake City. He has taken a few painting classes over the years but is largely self-taught. The primary mediums in which he works are acrylic and oil, favoring modern and surrealist styles. Says Nicolaus, "I've experienced many major changes in my life, and early on I realized that I have a lot of compassion for others. I paint the rough edges of life, often focusing on people in crisis."
Maxx Reith
Maxx began making art in his forties and is self-taught. Among the mediums he employs are pen and ink, pencil, charcoal, watercolor, and acrylic, utilizing these to create works in figurative, pop art, and fantasy styles. His pieces often depict dancers, runners, and other athletes in motion. Says Maxx, "I am inspired by New York City and its millions of residents."
Angela Rogers
Angela is a self-taught artist who, after having brain surgery and developing a seizure disorder in 2012, began creating three-dimensional forms by wrapping sticks with yarn. Over time the forms became figurative and incorporated a variety of media such as clay, fabric, wire, beads, and talismans. Angela refers to these creations as “Poppets,” an Old English spelling of the word “Puppets.” She has exhibited for many years at the Outsider Art Fair and has shown at venues including Andrew Edlin Gallery, Gallery at HAI, and Art on A Gallery. Her pieces are held in numerous private collections, and she has participated in residencies at the Ace Hotel and the Carlton Arms Hotel. Angela has been a reader of Tarot cards for over 40 years, which has informed her work. She created several original Tarot decks and a feminist comic book entitled No One Likes a Woman. She is a performer and co-founder of the bands Lone Vein and Ash Negative. Angela’s paintings have been featured in films such as Steven Soderbergh’s “Side Effects,” and “What Maisie Knew.”
Susan Spangenberg
Susan began making art at the age of three and hasn't lost her childlike enthusiasm for creativity. She uses art to cope with the symptoms of her trauma and mental illness. Says Susan, “I create playful worlds – all of them raw, intuitive, impulsive, direct, emotional, psychedelic, and whimsical. I like to incorporate text and stream of consciousness writing in my art, including messages from my late twin brother. There are also elements of spiritual symbolism from my Indo-Trinidadian ancestry, and handsewn fabric throughout my work. The handsewn elements are a throwback to my childhood, taking my life back from my abusive mother, who refused to let me sew or be creative. However, both of my grandmothers were seamstresses, so I feel as though I am keeping alive a family tradition and legacy in my work." Susan has created several categories of hand-sewn dolls. Asylum Dolls consists of icons and the average person; the common thread is mental illness. The icons represented are women and men in history whom Susan identifies with due to similarities in trauma, mental illness, and confinement to psychiatric hospitals. Healing Pillows and Healing Dolls celebrate irreplaceable icons in history and everyday dolls with inspirational messages of hope and healing that are meant to comfort. The Out of My Head series consists of self-portraits featuring open zipper heads with handwritten inner dialogues pouring out like strands of hair – tangled, messy, chaotic and intricate, as thoughts are. Susan also performs as an actor under the stage name Shyla Idris. She has a doll series comprising characters from Shakespeare’s world.
Alyson Vega
Alyson is a Puerto Rican fiber artist who taught herself to sew at a young age. Born in New York City in 1962, she received an AB in Japanese Folklore and Mythology from Harvard University. After teaching math for over 20 years, Alyson sustained a brain injury that ended her career; at the same time, she developed an urgency to create. No longer able to follow a pattern, she made assemblages with whatever she could find. Utilizing a wide variety of materials and techniques, Alyson’s pieces reflect the beauty and order she perceives in a chaotic world. Her work has been shown in a solo exhibition at White Columns and at the Outsider Art Fair and is included in numerous private collections.
Vermillion
Vermillion is a make-something-out-of-nothing artist. Her textile art, collages, and assemblages have developed as of late into installations that have an underlying social or political message but also fulfill a need for playfulness, humor, surprise, uniqueness. Her plan is to create an international artist retreat, a habitat made out of blue bottle walls, mosaics, lumber and metal castoffs, on a patch of land by the woods.
Fountain House Gallery & Studio is funded, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and by generous support from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, and the Renate, Hans and Maria Hofmann Trust.
About Fountain House Gallery & Studio
Fountain House Gallery & Studio supports the careers and creative visions of artists living with mental illness. Founded by Fountain House in 2000, the Manhattan-based Gallery sells original artworks and collaborates with a wide network of artists, curators and cultural institutions. The Studio, located in Long Island City, is a collaborative workspace that furthers the professional practice of our artists. Embracing artists who are emerging or established, trained or self-taught, Fountain House Gallery & Studio cultivates artistic growth, makes a vital contribution to the New York arts community, and challenges the stigma surrounding mental illness.
Fountain House Gallery
702 Ninth Avenue at 48th Street
NYC 10019
212.262.2756
Hours: Tuesday-Friday 12-6/Saturday 1-7
fountainhousegallery.org
More than a gallery. A movement.
###