Art Wall: Edie Fake

November 20, 2019–June 27, 2021

Edie Fake’s mural envisions affordable housing for transgender elders, using architecture to celebrate the uniqueness of trans bodies and the possibilities of queer space.

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Edie Fake: Affordable Housing for Trans Elders, 2019; courtesy of the artist and Western Exhibitions, Chicago. Photo: JKA Photography.
Edie Fake: Proposal for Art Wall, Affordable Housing for Trans Elders, 2019; courtesy of the artist and Western Exhibitions, Chicago.

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Recorded Wednesday, November 20, 6 PM PDT
Artist’s Talk: Edie Fake in Conversation with Elaine Yau

Artist Edie Fake discusses his new Art Wall project with exhibition organizer Elaine Yau, addressing the idea of queer space and the role of art in growing dialogue around trans rights.

BAMPFA

Art Wall: Edie Fake

November 20, 2019–June 27, 2021

The latest commission for the BAMPFA Art Wall, Edie Fake’s Affordable Housing for Trans Elders is an open invitation for visitors to consider the exciting complexities of queer space. Presented as a building façade, Fake’s mural visualizes a structure full of surprises. Window frames veer off in new directions and dead-end or interlock with others; decorative strips add vibrant accents in seemingly ad hoc ways; and doors are adorned with striking patterns that capture one’s gaze even as they remain closed. Drawing on the idiosyncratic character of vernacular and repurposed buildings, Fake employs architecture as an imaginative site for celebrating the uniqueness of transgender bodies and the lives of gender-nonconforming people.

At the same time, Fake’s mural seeks to catalyze...

At the same time, Fake’s mural seeks to catalyze social action. The ideas behind Affordable Housing for Trans Elders originated with the artist’s experience helping an older trans person secure housing in Southern California’s high desert. Faced with his friend’s limited physical and economic mobility, discrimination, and a social infrastructure that inadequately addressed the needs of the LGBTQ community, Fake responded with the imaginative power of what he calls “ecstatic architecture”: “It’s a visualization of something that is unbuilt but has the potential to be realized. I draw what I draw to push these things into existence.” Both familiar and abstract, Fake’s vision prompts viewers to consider how affordable housing for the trans community can move from imaginary structures to reality.

Born in 1980 outside of Chicago, Edie Fake lives and works in Twentynine Palms, California. He is best known for his intimately scaled drawings and paintings that explore trans and nonbinary experiences of adaptation and transition. An artist who has exhibited nationally and internationally, Fake is also an award-winning graphic novelist and creator of the queer comic series Gaylord Phoenix.

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Download the exhibition brochure (PDF)

The Art Wall is commissioned by BAMPFA and made possible by major funding from Frances Hellman and Warren Breslau.

Art Wall: Edie Fake

November 20, 2019–June 27, 2021

Past Events

Artist’s Talk: Edie Fake in Conversation with Elaine Yau