Kaleidoscopic Paintings by Edie Fake Invoke the Spiritual Wisdom of Plants

“Bustle” (2024), acrylic and gouache on wood panel, 48 x 48 inches. All images courtesy of Western Exhibitions, shared with permission

In Persuasions, artist Edie Fake turns their attention to the wise, enduring insights of plants. The new series of acrylic and gouache paintings expands Fake’s bold visual language to incorporate flowers, which they render amidst the kaleidoscopic geometries they’re known for. Evocative of architecture and mechanics, the colorful graphic works veer into the spiritual, melding the myriad systems that order our lives.

Fake often begins with a meticulous sketch in graphite. Using rulers and protractors, they render impeccably precise shapes that together, comprise a highly engineered network of gears, bottles, and lanterns. This series draws on Tarot and the diagrams of Swiss healer Emma Kunz (1892-1963), who saw her work as answers to larger philosophical, spiritual, and medical problems. Vines crawl up the side of “Theater of the Fool” and the flowering pillars of “The Old Arrangements in a New Light” beam with radiant light, seamlessly binding the botanical and the divine.

Persuasions is on view from April 12 to June 1 at Western Exhibitions in Chicago. Find more from the artist on Instagram.

“Theater of the Fool” (2024), acrylic and gouache on wood panel, 48 x 48 inches

“One Thing To Fit Another” (2024), acrylic and gouache on wood panel, 36 x 36 inches

“Mr. Snakes and Ladders” (2024), acrylic and gouache on wood panel, 48 x 48 inches

“The Old Arrangements in a New Light” (2024), acrylic and gouache on wood panel, 36 x 36 inches

“Suasion” (2024), acrylic and gouache on wood panel, 36 x 36 inches

“Hurricane Lantern” (2024), acrylic and gouache on wood panel, 16 x 12 inches

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