Edie Fake (born 1980) is an American artist, illustrator, author, and transgender activist. Fake is known for their comics/zines, gouache and ink paintings, and murals. Fake has an award winning comic-zine series about Gaylord Phoenix, a bird-like man that travels to different environments and has various lovers.[1] He is currently based in Joshua Tree, California, after previously residing in Chicago and Los Angeles.[2][3]

Edie Fake
Born1980 (age 43–44)
EducationUniversity of Southern California
Alma materRhode Island School of Design
Known forFine Art, Comics, Illustration, Author, Transgender Activist
MovementDecorative Art, Queer Art

Early life and education

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Fake was born in 1980 and raised in Evanston, Illinois.[4][5][6] In 2002, he received a B.F.A. degree in Film, Animation and Video (FAV) from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).[7][8] After graduating from RISD, Fake worked as a negative cutter for approximately 6 years,[9] and started working in comics, collage and drawing, and translating their animation into two dimensional work because it was more accessible.[9]

In 2015, Fake had been enrolled at Roski School of Art at University of Southern California (USC) and was one of the seven artists (nicknamed the "USC7") that dropped out of the school in protest of the mistreatment by the administration.[10]

Work

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Fakes work uses visual abstraction in their work as an exploration of identity in the transgender and queer experience.[11][12] The Gaylord Phoenix short comics series started in 2002.[13] In the illustrated book, Gaylord Phoenix (2010) there is expression of desire and transformation happening to a bird-like man in a dream-like, fantasy environment.[1][14]

In the illustrated book, Memory Palaces (2014), Fake reimagines the facades of historical queer spaces in Chicago in abstract, fantasy-like paintings of architecture, which are used as a metaphor for the transgender body.[14][15] Both with architecture and the human body, these exist as structures and present decoration and protective features, and both of these are vulnerability due to shifts in U.S. politics and social change.[16][17] Additionally in the exhibition of the same name, Memory Palaces (2013), at Thomas Robertello Gallery in Chicago, there were a series of drawings titled "Gateway", where Fake pays tribute the death of his five artist friends, Mark Aguhar, Nick Djandji, Dara Greenwald, Flo McGarrell, and Dylan Williams.[18][19]

Fake won the 2011 Ignatz Award for "Outstanding Graphic Novel" for Gaylord Phoenix.[1][20][21] In 2019, Fake was one of the guests of honors at MoCCA Festival by the Society of Illustrators.[22]

Exhibitions

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This is a list of select exhibitions of Edie Fake's work, separated by the type of exhibition and listed by year of exhibition.

Solo exhibitions

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Group exhibitions

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Publications

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  • Fake, Edie (2010). Gaylord Phoenix. Brooklyn, New York: Secret Acres. ISBN 9780979960987.
  • Fake, Edie (2014). Memory Palaces. Brooklyn, New York: Secret Acres. ISBN 9780988814936.
  • Fake, Edie (2018). Little Stranger. Brooklyn, New York: Secret Acres. ISBN 9780999193501.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Hall, Justin (2013). No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics. Seattle, Washington: Fantagraphics Books. pp. 309. ISBN 9781606997185.
  2. ^ Benson, Eben. "Edie Fake: Off the Grid". Juxtapoz Magazine. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  3. ^ "Episode 346: Edie Fake - RiYL (podcast)". Listen Notes. June 23, 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2019. After stints in Chicago and Los Angeles, Fake currently resides in the California desert of Joshua Tree.
  4. ^ "Ever Get Turned on by Cooking Instructions? Comics Artist Edie Fake's Personal + Playful Exploration of Sexuality". Eye on Design, AIGA. July 12, 2018. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  5. ^ MacMillan, Kyle (December 1, 2018). "Edie Fake". Art in America. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  6. ^ ""Where's Their There?" — Visiting Artist Lecture with Edie Fake". Oberlin College and Conservatory. March 16, 2018. Retrieved November 6, 2019. Fake was born outside Chicago in 1980
  7. ^ "USC7 Artist Edie Fake's Gorgeous Drawings". artnet News. June 8, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  8. ^ "Questions of Queer Space". Our RISD. 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2019. Edie Fake 02 FAV
  9. ^ a b "You Can't Always Give and You Can't Always Take | Edie Fake". Art21 Magazine. April 9, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  10. ^ "USC Roski Fiasco Points to Wider Problems". artnet News. June 5, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  11. ^ Getsy, David J. (2015). Abstract Bodies: Sixties Sculpture in the Expanded Field of Gender. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 327. ISBN 9780300196757.
  12. ^ Mautner, Chris. "Translating Identity". The Smart Set. Pennoni Honors College at Drexel University. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  13. ^ "CLOSE TO HOME: Spotlight on Local Artists at Printed Matter's LA Art Book Fair 2015 - Edie Fake". Hammer Museum, UCLA. 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  14. ^ a b Milligan, Mercedes (January 23, 2019). "MoCCA Arts Festival Guests of Honor Announced". Animation Magazine. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  15. ^ Hawbaker, K. T. (2018). "With 'Gut Rehab' at Western Exhibitions, Edie Fake connects trans bodies with queer architecture". ChicagoTribune.com. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  16. ^ "Gut Rehab: Edie Fake's Elaborate and Maze-like Paintings @ Western Exhibitions, Chicago". Juxtapoz Magazine. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  17. ^ "Artist Edie Fake explores gender identity and sexuality through architectural drawings". Archpaper.com. June 1, 2018. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  18. ^ Orendorff, Danny (January 11, 2013). "Edie Fake's Ecstatic Afterlives". Bad at Sports. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  19. ^ "Homage to a City's Queer History". Hyperallergic. January 11, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  20. ^ "The SPX 2011 Ignatz Award nominees are here..." Washington Post. August 18, 2011.
  21. ^ "Winners announced for 2011 Ignatz Awards". Cbr.com. September 11, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  22. ^ Solan, Colin (January 23, 2019). "2019 MoCCA Arts Festival Guests of Honor Announced". Convention Scene. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  23. ^ "Art Wall: Edie Fake". BAMPFA. 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  24. ^ "Current Exhibitions: Edie Fake Labyrinth". The Drawing Center. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  25. ^ "Edie Fake: Structures Shift". Everson Museum. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  26. ^ "USC's MFA Student Dropouts to Show at New LA Non-Profit". Observer. April 6, 2016. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  27. ^ "AR: Edie Fake at Marlborough Chelsea". Contemporary Art Daily. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  28. ^ "Edie Fake". Thomas Robertello Gallery. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  29. ^ Berlatsky, Noah (May 11, 2014). "Edie Fake's Memory Palaces dazzles". Chicago Reader. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  30. ^ "Katherine E. Nash Gallery". Katherine E. Nash Gallery. Regents of the University of Minnesota. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  31. ^ Trusty, Rachel (September 17, 2019). "Queer Abstraction at Des Moines Art Center". ARTMargins. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  32. ^ "Queer California: Untold Stories". Oakland Museum of California. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  33. ^ Selvin, Claire (April 24, 2018). "Beyond the Surface: Miriam Schapiro's Enduring Legacy Is on Full View at the Museum of Arts and Design". ARTnews. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  34. ^ "Edie Fake". Institute for Contemporary Art. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  35. ^ "A Dazzling Decade". Johnson County Community College. 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2019.[permanent dead link]
  36. ^ "Tomorrow Never Happens". Bucknell University. 2016. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
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