As a janitor in Chicago, outsider artist Henry Darger (1892–1973) mopped floors for a living. In his free time, he wrote a 15,000-page novel, The Story of the Vivian Girls in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, telling a story of abandoned children and their persecutors living in a mythological world. Using coloring books, magazines, and cartoons as sources, Darger also created a series of large-scale drawings to illustrate his kaleidoscopic saga, some of which are presented here by New York City’s Andrew Edlin Gallery.

A Midwesterner as well, Vija Celmins (b. 1938) creates black-and-white photorealistic drawings and etchings of natural objects, landscapes, and cosmic entities. Over six decades, the American artist has developed a highly idiosyncratic practice, in which a stone is depicted with as much precision as galaxies or bodies of water. In the prints (made between 1971 and 1992) exhibited by Susan Sheehan Gallery, Celmins’ technical skills shine.

Patience and dedication also define the practice of Louise Fishman (b. 1939). Vielmetter Los Angeles will show six of her early paintings that have never been exhibited before. They are characterized by vigorous brushstrokes and influenced by Fishman’s feminism, lesbianism, Jewish identity, and her unquenched thirst for the arts in all their forms. These energetic canvases are prime examples of Fishman's continuous quest to develop a highly personal form of abstract art.

Galerie Buchholz’s Viewing Room is dedicated to Isa Genzken (b. 1948). The German artist is best known for her works featuring mannequins, mirrored surfaces, and variations of the world-famous Nefertiti Bust. But forty years ago, Genzken produced works of a different nature: narrow wooden sculptures based on computer-generated calculations. Buchholz’s presentation homes in on one of these elegant early works, shown with preparatory sketches and a photograph from that period.

In the 1960s, Italy’s art scene bloomed, as movements such as Arte Povera rose to the fore. Cardi Gallery's booth emphasizes the importance of Italian artists in the second half of the 20th century. It includes works by Jannis Kounellis (1936–2017), Giulio Paolini (b. 1940), and Michelangelo Pistoletto (b. 1933), key representatives of Arte Povera, an artistic movement that emphasized natural and 'poor' materials; Mimmo Rotella (1918–2006), who played an important role in 1960s Parisian avant-garde movements; Mimmo Paladino (b. 1948), one of the most famous representatives of the Transavanguardia painting group, which in the 1970s and 1980s aimed to counteract the dominance of conceptual art; and Gino De Dominicis (1947–1998), who in his practice combined elements from all these artistic currents, while refusing to be associated with any of them.

Giò Marconi’s virtual booth features lively paintings by Valerio Adami (b. 1935), Enrico Baj (1924–2003), Hsiao Chin (b. 1935), Lucio Del Pezzo (b.1933–2020), Mario Schifano (1934–1998), and Emilio Tadini (1927–2002). Influenced by Pop Art and Dada, these artists were among the first to exhibit with Studio Marconi, a gallery founded in 1965 by Giò Marconi’s father, to whom this presentation pays tribute. Their works also show the influence of 1960s Milan’s dynamic design and publishing scenes on artists.