In Pictures: See R.E.M. Frontman Michael Stipe’s Fantastical Art Brut Collection, on View at the Outsider Art Fair in New York

Michael Stipe, the frontman of the 1990’s rock outfit R.E.M., has been a fixture in the art world for a long time. His band often worked with artists such as Howard Finster and R.A. Miller on album art and music videos, and he’s been collecting works by artists such as those for years.

Now, his personal collection of outsider art is on view (and on sale) at the Outsider Art Fair in New York in a section curated by Phillip March Jones.

Jones, who first learned about outsider art through Stipe in 1996, said that the presentation was inspired by Stipe’s ability to act as an interlocutor.

“For me, the interest was in conveying the sense of an introduction or a conduit to something larger than yourself,” Jones said.

This year’s edition of the fair, which closes March 6, includes 62 international exhibitors including Carl Hammer Gallery from Chicago, Ricco Maresca Gallery from New York, and Tierra del Sol Gallery from Los Angeles. The event takes place at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Flatiron.

Before you heard out to see the show, lose your religion in some of the works on view in the Stipe presentation.

Dilmus Hall, Untitled (1980s). Colored pencil, pencil, and pen on paper.

Howard Finster, THANK GOD FOR AN EMPTY CROSS (2000 AND 877 PIECES) (1983). Paint on wood panel.

Juanita Rogers, Untitled (1980s). Watercolor and graphite on paper.

Eddie Owens Martin, Untitled, n.d. Mixed media on paper.

Eddie Owens Martin, Untitled, n.d. Mixed media on paper.

Prophet Royal Robertson, Untitled (Zion) (1980s). Glitter, enamel, marker and ink on posterboard.

Leroy Person, Untitled, n.d., oil pastel on paper.