Sam Doyle [ Outsider Art Fair New York ]

The Gallery of  Everything dedicates its inaugural presentation at the 2026 Outsider Art Fair in New York to Sam Doyle (1906 - 1985) - the legendary American self-taught artist, whose dynamic paintings and sculptures documented local Black history, and, through a chance encounter, would go on to become a significant influence on the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Born to the Gullah community of St Helena Island, South Carolina, Doyle was a store clerk, laundry worker, handyman and labourer, before he chose to devote himself to his art. A known and respected figure on the island, Doyle also was steeped in the myth, tradition and language of his ancestors.

Today, Sam Doyle is widely regarded as a central figure in 20th-century African American folk art. His works are held in major institutional collections including the American Folk Art Museum, New York, the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. His legacy endures not only through these museum holdings, but through the continuing recognition of Gullah culture as a vital and living cultural tradition.

At Outsider Art Fair 2026, The Gallery of  Everything  brings together a focused selection of Doyle’s roofing-tin portraits from the Bob Roth Collection, offering a rare opportunity to encounter these works outside of museum contexts. Together, they present a vivid testament to an artist who transformed everyday materials into enduring documents of identity, memory and cultural self-representation.