GALLERISTS HAL BROMM AND GARY WHITT ON THE 2026 OUTSIDER ART FAIR

On tonight’s show, we’ll be joined by gallerist and preservationist Hal Bromm and curator Gary Whitt to discuss Hal Bromm Gallery’s upcoming exhibit at the 2026 Outsider Art Fair, presenting work by Joey Tapedino, David Wojnarowicz and Larry Stanton, at the Metropolitan Pavillion, the  only art fair dedicated to showcasing self-taught art, art brut, and outsider art from around the world.

Outsider art, first designated Art Brut (Raw Art), was named and defined in the mid 1940’s by the French artist Jean Dubuffet, as art unadulterated by culture, training or desire for recognition from the art establishment, often by artists working in isolation, uninhibited by opinion,  often from psychiatric institutions, prisons and other unexpected corners of society.

Hal Bromm, a Tribeca pioneer, was at the forefront of adaptive re-use of historic buildings in the early 1970s.  His home was a former cheese warehouse at 10 Beach Street, where in 1975 he opened Tribeca's first gallery.  In 2025 the gallery celebrated with a 50th Anniversary exhibition and the publication of New Art, Old Buildings: Stories from Hal Bromm’s Tribeca.

Hal Bromm presented Keith Haring’s first major gallery exhibition in 1981. 

Bromm’s satellite gallery on Avenue A focused on the East Village scene, and introduced the depth of talent surfacing there, including that of Alice Adams, Rosemarie Castoro, Robert Longo, David Wojnarowicz (Roge-nar-a-witz), Luis Frangella, Judy Glantzman and many others.   

Interdisciplinary artist and curator Gary Whitt has worked alongside Hal Bromm As Director of Hal Bromm Gallery to celebrate and expand upon the gallery’s 50 year history of championingthe avant-garde and curating exhibitions which bring the gallery’s mainstay artists into conversation with contemporary voices. Their exhibitions at Hal Bromm Gallery include Joey Tepedino: Macrocosmic Minds (solo debut), Lucio Pozzi: Cornucopia, Rosemarie Castoro: Between the lines, and The Queer Show Part I & II

(group exhibition), Touching/Feeling (group exhibition), 50: The View From Tribeca, and Luis Frangella: On Paper, among others.

Hosted by Janet Coleman and David Dozer