From a self-taught Chicago painter to the artist behind the Caps for Sale children’s book, these are the names worth seeking out at this year’s edition

3. Frank Diaz Escalet at Hollis Taggart

Self-taught artist Frank Diaz Escalet approached his practice from an unexpected direction: through leather. Born in Puerto Rico in 1930, Escalet was a successful leather craftsman who created custom clothing for clients like the Rolling Stones. During his years living on the Bowery, from 1964 to 1971, he absorbed the energy of New York’s jazz scene, nightlife, and multicultural neighborhoods.

Escalet transformed his leather expertise into something entirely new. He assembled pre-dyed pieces of leather into intricate compositions on Masonite. In these works, as well as in his paintings made with more traditional materials like acrylic, he depicted everything from city life and immigrant communities to cowboys in the American Southwest. 

“Frank Diaz Escalet’s works are charming and humorous slices of everyday life,” says Hollis Taggart. “At a moment when the art world is embracing new and unconventional materials, Escalet’s leather ‘paintings’ offer a singular vision—uniting artistic ambition with exquisite craftsmanship.” His work feels especially timely today, as artists and institutions continue to reconsider the boundaries between painting, craft, and material experimentation. Escalet was blurring those distinctions decades ago.