FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 2/23/2024
Contact:
Camille Tibaldeo
E: camille@fountaingallerynyc.com
P: 212.246.6543
February 29 – March 3, 2024
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 29 through March 3, 2024, at the Metropolitan Pavilion, located at 125 West 18th Street in Manhattan. Fountain House Gallery, which has had a presence at the fair for well over a decade, will be exhibiting in Booth D11. Hours: VIP & Press Preview: Thursday, February 29, 12–6pm; Vernissage: Thursday, February 29, 6-9pm. Open to the Public:Friday, March 1, 11am-8pm; Saturday, March 2, 11am-8pm; Sunday, March 3, 11am-6pm.
The Fountain House Gallery artists whose work will be on view at the 2024 Outsider Art Fair are:
Rascally Rich Courage
Presenting his work for the first time at OAF, Courage makes enigmatic Tarot cutouts that have broad appeal to those attuned to divination as well as to the casual viewer. An avid street vendor, Courage can be found making his precision cuts outside the Metropolitan Museum on any given Saturday.
Issa Ibrahim
In addition to Ibrahim’s The Cosmic Knockout series, the Gallery is presenting two of his found-object sculptures. About Here Comes the Son, Ibrahim stated: “Here is the familiar Catholic religious statue of the Virgin Mother with her child the Baby Jesus but painted darker-skinned, taking a nod from the South American Christian tradition, and wearing robes emblazoned with ‘#1 Mom’ and ‘The Beatles.’ To further the metaphor, I placed a small music box that plays the melody to the Beatles classic ‘Here Comes the Sun.’ I see this as an ode to my mom and me as a child in 1969, two brown-skinned Beatles freaks digging the sounds and the vibes, with my name the Arabic equivalent of Jesus, happy and not knowing that 20 years later my psychotic connection to Christ would prove devastating for me and my mom. I dedicate this to her.”
Roger Jones
Jones continues to explore maximalism through his odes to flea market finds. Layered over his trademark intricate grids depicting the buildings and people of New York City, his paintings are amplified and accessorized using rare coins, stamps, watches, and other mementoes. Beneath these layers, you will find Jones’s continuing tribute to the iconic, soon-to-be-retired, yellow and blue MetroCard. More is more!
Angela Rogers
Rogers has been moving forward in the scale of her signature Poppets (an old English spelling of the word “Puppets”). Formerly working in a smaller format, her creation of a 12-foot-tall Poppet presented at a recent event has led to further exploration of larger forms. A number of works exposing the Poppet “skeleton” (not obscured by yarn or other materials) provide insight into Rogers's process.
Notably, this year marks the final iteration of Rogers’s Dakota series, which used branches from outside the Dakota building as a base. Yoko Ono is selling her longtime Dakota apartment and Rogers is discontinuing the series. There are also works from Rogers’s painting series, Odd Girl Out, which she describes as “a series focusing on themes of isolation and marginalization.”
Susan Spangenberg
The Gallery is pleased to present a selection of Spangenberg’s hand-constructed dolls, including her Asylum Dolls, Average Gals, and newest Healing Dolls. Said Spangenberg: “Asylum Dolls is an ongoing series portraying iconic women in history with whom I identify due to their similar experiences with trauma, mental illness, and confinement to psychiatric hospitals. Authentic psych hospital gowns worn during my inpatient stays are repurposed and incorporated in some of these works. As I particularly enjoy reading letters, quotes, and other personal writings of the famous figures honored in this series, their own words are incorporated on the bodies of the dolls. For the fictional characters, the author’s words are used to bring further life to the dolls.”
Alyson Vega
Ever in search of a challenge and increasing the specificity within her practice, Vega – working from composite photographs and her own imagination – takes on studies of city life in her signature recycled textiles and fabric. Her use of materials is anything but haphazard. Interweaving humor and poetics, Vega’s work rewards the viewer for taking a closer look.
Vermillion
The Gallery is pleased to present two sculptures by Vermillion. During her recent residency on Governors Island, she began her “1000 Blue Bottles” project. Over a period of a year, Vermillion collected blue bottles from community donations, recycling plants, and even from allied caterers and liquor store employees. After cleaning and scrubbing the bottles of their previous lives, she assembled them into large, site-specific sculptures, transforming the bottles from senseless by-products to objects with inherent value as “artwork.” Vermillion activated the sculptures by performing weekly “Earth Burials” in which visitors were invited to layer her body (as a stand-in for “Mother Earth”) in the bottles while prompting conversations about destruction, obligation, and intentionality. The sculptures, a tabletop turned upright and a chandelier, are an invitation to corporations and worried citizens to sit down together at the proverbial shareholders’ meeting for the future of our planet.
This program is funded, in part, by generous support from the Renate, Hans and Maria Hofmann Trust and the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.
About Fountain House Gallery and Studio
Fountain House Gallery and Studio supports the careers and creative visions of contemporary artists living with mental illness. Founded by Fountain House in 2000, the Gallery sells original artworks and collaborates with a wide network of artists, curators and cultural institutions. The Studio 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 and 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.