Directory

Gavin Fahey is a Boston-based painter and sculptor. Born and raised in Chicago, IL, Fahey graduated from Swarthmore College in 2014 with a BA in mathematics and economics, and Boston University in 2022 with an MFA in painting. Fahey’s current work questions his own role as a political actor, as he paints portraits of domestic terrorists and hides these portraits inside wooden sculptures. His sculptures also point to American vernacular architecture and furniture traditions, and in turn suggest his sculptures have a tradition of their own: an alternative cultural canon which revels in the absurdity of martyrdom and the malevolent vacancy of deep-state bureaucrats. Fahey is the 2022 Grand Prize Winner of the Kahn Career Entry Award, which is awarded each year to one graduating student from the Boston University College of Fine Arts. Fahey’s work has been shown at The Piano Craft Gallery in Boston, MA, The Stone Gallery at Boston University, and Gallery 263 in Cambridge, MA.

Industry Experience

• 2022 – Adjunct Faculty, Studio for Drawing, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
• 2022 – Teaching Assistant, Sculpture, Watercolor, Visual Arts Summer Institute (VASI) at Boston University, Boston, MA
• 2022 – Teaching Assistant, Fine Arts Drawing, Boston University, Boston, MA
• 2021 – Teaching Assistant, Site-Specific Art, Boston University, Boston, MA
• 2014-17 – Research Assistant, RAND Corporation, Boston, MA
• 2013 – Teaching Assistant, Macroeconomics, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore PA

Selected Exhibitions:

• 2022 – Finding a Memory, Piano Craft Gallery, Boston, MA
• 2022 – Amory Park, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY
• 2022 – MFA 2022 Exhibition, Painting and Sculpture, Stone Gallery, Boston, MA
• 2022 – Tip of the Tongue, Gallery 263, Cambridge, MA
• 2021 – American Myth, Commonwealth Gallery, Boston, MA

Selected publications, Presentations & Media:

• 2022 – Finding a Memory, I Like Your Work
• 2022 – Gavin Fahey (CFA’22) Named Grand Prize Winner at 2022 Kahn Awards Competition, BU Today, May 17, 2022
• 2022 – Six CFA Students Recognized at the 2022 Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Awards Ceremony, BU Today, May 4, 2022
• 2022 – 2022 MFA Painting and Sculpture Thesis Exhibition Now at Stone Gallery, BU Today, March 23, 2022

Awards, Recognitions, Honors:

• 2022 – Kahn Career Entry Award, Grand Prize, Boston University College of Fine Arts
• 2012-14 – William Diebold Endowed Scholarship, Swarthmore College
• 2011-14 – Newton E. Tarble Award, Swarthmore College
• 2010-14 – Frank and Marie Aydelotte Scholarship, Swarthmore College
• 2010 – Eagle Scout, Boy Scouts of America

Connect:

• gavinfahey.com