Ricco/Maresca Gallery

About the Gallery
Ricco/Maresca was founded by Frank Maresca and Roger Ricco in 1979 on Broome Street in Soho's then-emerging gallery district. In 1997, the gallery relocated to Chelsea, becoming one of the first galleries to establish itself in the area. Following in the footsteps of the legendary New York dealer Sidney Janis, Ricco/Maresca champions and showcases the art of self-taught masters working outside of the mainstream. The gallery specializes in Outsider art, the work of self-taught contemporary artists, and historically significant American folk art, presenting work in various media. For over 35 years, Ricco/Maresca has helped to blur the lines that have typically separated "marginal" art from conventional art-historical categories through a pioneering program that emphasizes the crossover between vernacular and mainstream traditions, the management of key estates (including those of William Hawkins and Martín Ramírez), and books produced with publishing partners such as Alfred A. Knopf, Little Brown & Company, and Pomegranate Press. Ricco/Maresca is also the gallery partner of Gugging, the mental institution and art atelier in the suburbs of Vienna.

About the Presentation
Ricco/Maresca will present a striking collection of vintage American game boards created between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries. These once functional, visually compelling works, created by unknown artists, transcend their original purpose to align with the aesthetics of minimalism and geometric abstraction. Ricco/Maresca’s presentation, the first of its kind at a major art fair, decontextualizes these objects to celebrate their graphic beauty, materiality, and historical significance. This exhibition furthers the gallery’s mission to elevate self-taught and vernacular art into the modern and contemporary art discourse.