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OAF Curated Space | Beyond Genres: Self-Taught Artists Making Contemporary Art

Curated by Paul Laster

OAF New York 2022

Installation of Beyond Genres: Self-Taught Artists Making Contemporary Art at OAF NY 2023

Installation of Beyond Genres: Self-Taught Artists Making Contemporary Art at OAF NY 2023

Installation of Beyond Genres: Self-Taught Artists Making Contemporary Art at OAF NY 2023

Installation of Beyond Genres: Self-Taught Artists Making Contemporary Art at OAF NY 2023

Jordan Kerwick Untitled, 2021

Jordan Kerwick
Untitled, 2021
Felt tip pen and oil pastel on paper
23.75 x 15.75 inches
Courtesy the artist and Vito Schnabel Gallery, New York, Los Angeles and St. Moritz 
© Jordan Kerwick

Bony Ramirez Musa X Paradisiaca, 2020

Bony Ramirez
Musa X Paradisiaca, 2020
Acrylic, colored pencil, oil pastel, wallpaper and paper on wood panel
48 x 36 inches
Private Collection
Courtesy Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York

Hassan Hajjaj From the series My Rockstars, Riz Ahmed, 2019/1440 (Gregorian/Hijri)

Hassan Hajjaj
From the series My Rockstars, Riz Ahmed, 2019/1440 (Gregorian/Hijri)
Metallic Lambda on 3mm Dibond in a poplar sprayed-white frame with green swan tea boxes
44 x 30 inches
© Hassan Hajjaj, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

Farley Aguilar Alyosha the Pot, 2020

Farley Aguilar
Alyosha the Pot, 2020
Ink on mylar
33.75 x 23.25 inches
Courtesy the artist and Lyles & King, New York
Photo: Charles Benton

 

Larry Clark Untitled, 1963

Larry Clark
Untitled, 1963
Black and white photograph
11 x 14 inches
© Larry Clark. Courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

Information

A group exhibition of self-taught artists who are exhibited by national and international art galleries, Beyond Genres: Self-Taught Artists Creating Contemporary Art shines a light on contemporary painters and sculptors who haven’t followed the orthodox path of getting a university degree in order to make art. The exhibition was inspired by the observation made by Cologne gallerists Nicole Delmes and Susanne Zander when they announced the closure of their gallery in 2020. They declared that their aim had always been to "illuminate the valuable work of artists whose eccentricities, impairments or lack of university degrees saw them thoughtlessly and brutally excluded and pigeonholed." 

Artists in the exhibition and their galleries include Thomas Agrinier (Hollis Taggart), Farley Aguilar (Lyles & King), Charles Avery (GRIMM), Tom Bronk (Andrew Edlin Gallery), Guy Church (Downs & Ross and Tops Gallery), Larry Clark (Luhring Augustine), Carmen D´Apollonio (Friedman Benda), Devon DeJardin (Albertz Benda), Sidival Fila (James Barron Art), Hassan Hajjaj (Yossi Milo Gallery), February James (Latchkey Gallery), Jim Jarmusch (James Fuentes), Alexander Kaletski (Anna Zorina Gallery), Jordan Kerwick (Vito Schnabel Gallery), Sanam Khatibi (PPOW), Paul Kremer (Alexander Berggruen), Eddie Martinez (Private Collection), Adama Nanguin (ARENA), Alexis Ralaivao (ATM Gallery), Bony Ramirez (Thierry Goldberg Gallery), Peter Schuyff (Carl Kostyál), Eric Shaw (The Hole) and Peter Shear (Fortnight Institute).

Beyond Genres: Self-Taught Artists Creating Contemporary Art celebrates DIY artists who are fueled by a passion for creativity and the galleries that support them.

Paul Laster is an artist, critic, curator, editor and lecturer. He’s a Curatorial Advisor for Intersect Art & Design, New York Desk Editor at ArtAsiaPacific, Contributing Editor for Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art and a contributing writer for Galerie Magazine, Time Out New York, Raw Vision, Ocula, Sculpture, Art & Object, Conceptual Fine Arts and Two Coats of Paint.

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