ALI FITZGERALD
 

Born in 1983 in Oakland (USA), lives and works in Berlin (Germany) and Paris (France)

alifitzgerald8@gmail.com

Education
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX (2004-2007)
Master of Fine Arts, focus on painting and installation

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME (2004)

Centro De Lenguas Modernas, Grenada, Spain (2002-2003)
Studied Spanish literature and Cinema

Davidson College, Davidson, NC (2000-2004) 
Bachelors of Art with a focus on Creative Writing and Studio Art (with honors)

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Drawn to Berlin: Comic Workshops in Refugee Shelters and Other Stories From a New Europe (2018)
Graphic nonfiction published by Fantagraphics (French edition from Éditions Presque Lune in September 2019)

The New York Times (Spring 2018-today) 
Regulary contributes comics to the Book section

The New Yorker (Autumn 2016-today)
Regularly contributes comics, visual essays, and a recurring satirical comic column called “America!”

The Guardian (Dec 2018)
Contributed a comic to the Cities section

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (Spring 2018) 
Published a series of drawings in response to the exhibition of René Magritte, “The Fifth Season”

Greenpeace Magazin (Autumn 2017-today)
Contributes drawings and cover designs

New York Magazine//The Cut (Spring 2016 - Autumn 2017)
Created the weekly comic series “Bermuda Square” and a series of illustrated interviews titled “The Golden Door”

The Olbricht Collection/Me Collector’s Room (Autumn 2016) 
Produced risograph prints about the Cindy Sherman exhibition as well as a limited edition coloring book of the Olbricht Wunderkammer (cabinet of curiosities)

Art Magazin (Winter 2015 - Winter 2016)
Created a monthly art-world comic 

McSweeney’s (Autumn 2013- Spring 2016) 
Created the popular bi-weekly webcomic “Hungover Bear and Friends”

Art21 (2009-2016) 
Regularly contributed articles and created the column, “Queer Berlin”

Smoke Signal (2010, 2013) 
Contributed comics to the comic anthology for Desert Island Bookstore, Brooklyn, New York

There Goes My Hero, Center For Book Arts, New York (2010) 
Contributed two artists books, catalogue available 


SELECTED GROUP AND SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020

• What Boars? Salon Gallery, Berlin (solo)

• Ongoing series of murals depicting Berlin history for the Humboldt Forum, opening Fall 2020

2019 

• Berlin, Mississippi, Gallery 130, the University of Mississippi (solo)

• Notebook, organized by Joanne Greenbaum, 56 Henry Gallery, New York

• Homecoming, Art by Alumni, Van Every Gallery, Davidson, North Carolina

• Graphic Worlds in the Making, The Fact-Finder Gallery, Berlin 

• In-Transit, Beit Beirut Museum, Beirut, Lebanon

2018 

• Breathing the Ultimate Wave//#Feminism and Class, Sprechsaal Gallery, Berlin

• Short Run Marathon Exhibition, Fantagraphics Bookstore Gallery, Seattle

 2017 

• Transaktionen, curated by Marc Wellman, Haus Am Lütowplatz, Berlin

• Not Quite Underground, invited artist in exhibition conceived and curated by Michael Smith as part of Skulptur Projekte Münster

2016

• Vitrine Freudienne-Féministe (solo), Desert Island, Brooklyn, New York 

2015 

• Too Late Sparrow (solo), Keith, Berlin

• Death and Sexuality, Schaufenster, Berlin and FB69, Muenster (Catalog) 

2014 

• Desert Island Pop-Up, SculptureCenter, New York 

• Temporary Autonomous Zone 3, curated by the ff, Teatr Studio, Warsaw

• About Edith, curated by L’oiseau Présente a collaboration with Berlin Art Week, Ballhaus Ost, Berlin

2013

• The Oracle, curated by the ff, The Wand, Berlin 

• You Should Be, curated by Katharina Arndt, Petra Rietz Galerie, Berlin

• Macht Kunst, Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle, Berlin

• Ueber das Geistige in der Kunst, curated by Johannes Rodenacker, Poseidon Projekte, Berlin

• Shambolic, curated by Kottie Paloma, Das Gift, Berlin

2012 

• Ding Bam es hat Geknilgtel, curated by Johannes Rodenacker, Poseidon Projekte, Berlin 

2010

• Brief Von Altersheim auf dem Mond, curated by Billy Miller, Polish Loser's Club, Berlin

• Deponie Kunst, curated by Alexis Knowlton, WildenbruchStr, Berlin (catalogue)

2009

• There Goes My Hero, Center for Book Arts, NYC, curated by Erin Riley-Lopez, New York

• The Scene, Kub Galerie, Leipzig, Germany

2008 

• Swan School: The Matriculation, (solo), Art Palace, Austin, TX 

• The Berliner Liste, with Extraraum, Berlin, Germany

• Palace Does Dallas, Road Agent Gallery, Dallas, TX / 20 To Watch, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX

 2007 

• Aqua Art Fair, Miami Beach, FL

• Y Que?, Landmark Arts at Texas Tech, organisée par Harmony Hammond, Lubbock, TX 

• Luck of the Draw, Diverseworks, Houston, TX

• Me Odio y Quiero Comprar, Object Not Found, Mexico City, Mexico

• Sirens' Song, curated by Kelly Baum, (curator of contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art), Arthouse at the Jones Center, Austin, Texas; El Paso Museum of Art and Galveston Art Center

TALKS AND WORKSHOPS

• Virtual Artist Talk (“Drawn to Berlin”) at the University of Mississippi, October 2019 

• Artist Talk (“Drawn to Berlin”) at The Council on International Educational Exchange, Paris, October 2019

• Talk (“Drawn to Berlin”) and Comic Workshop at the University of Bergen in conjunction with Grafill, Bergen, Norway, August 2019

• Comic workshop with the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, accompanying the exhibition, “Bauhaus Imaginista,” Berlin, Germany

• Talk (“The Aesthetics of Propaganda”) and workshop (visual storytelling), Davidson College, Davidson, N.C., U.S, March 2019 

• Talk and workshop, “Using Comics to Teach”, The University of North Carolina, Charlotte, N.C., U.S.A, March 2019

• Talk and Workshop: “How Comics Can Change the World”, The University of Bath, Bath, England, April 2018

• Series of workshops (visual storytelling), Shakespeare and Company, Paris, France, March-April 2018

• Talk (comics) for the Center for Cartoon Studies, New Hampshire, Autumn 2017

• Talk and workshop around the idea of “Home” at the National Library of Germany, Frankfurt, May 2016

• Series of workshops (comics, drawings) at refugee shelters, Berlin, Germany, 2015-2017

• Talk, “Visual Storytelling as a Tool to Affect Social Change” Lesbians Who Tech Conference, San Francisco, USA, February 2016

AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES

2020  Artist in residence at la Maison des Auteurs in Angoulême, France
2019  Artist in residence at the Fact Finder Gallery, Berlin
2019 Independent Publisher Award for Best Graphic Novel/ Drawn Book for “Drawn to Berlin”
2018 Merit Prize from the Society of Publication Designers Annual for “The Golden Door,” USA
2018 Awarded Georgia Fee Residency, Artslant, Paris, France
2017 Awarded Cornish Residency, the Center for Cartoon Studies, New Hampshire, USA
2007-2017 Selected for the Drawing Center Viewing Program, New York, USA
2006 + 2007 Nominated for Artist of the Year by the Austin Critics Table
2006 Michael Frary Grant for Painting, University of Texas at Austin
2005 Robert Levers Grant for Art, University of Texas at Austin
2004 Residency at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture

SELECTED PRESS

• Murel, Jake, “Drawn to Berlin,” the Comics Journal, May 2019

• McGrane, Sally, “Inside and Outside the Bubble,” the Los Angeles Review of Books, February 2019

• Riesman, Abraham “The Ten Best Comics of 2018,” New York Magazine: Vulture

• Mackenzie, Anna “The Renaissance of Comics//Ali Fitzgerald” Word of Mouth, Spring 2019

• Lehoczky, Etelka, “Capturing Europe’s Refugee Crisis Through Comics,” The Atlantic, Nov 7, 2018

• Burrows, Claire, “Drawn to Berlin: Comic Workshops in Refugee Shelters and Other Stories from a New Europe,” World Literature Today, Winter 2019

• Allgood, Evan, “Ali Fitzgerald on Her New Comic About Refugees and Germany’s Rising Nativism,” New York Magazine: Vulture, Oct. 23rd, 2018

• “Berlin, Bears and Refugees, the World of Ali Fitzgerald,” Pocko, Winter 2018

• Riesman, Abraham, “8 Best Comics to Read in October 2018,” New York Magazine: Vulture

• Schindel, Dan, “A Graphic Artist Observes How Germany Is Not as Safe as It Promised to Be for Refugees,” Hyperallergic, Nov 6th, 2018

• Rodriguez, Leah, “ This Artist Wants to Humanize the Refugee Experience Through Comics,” Global Citizen, Nov 16, 2018

• Lockard, Joe, “City of Refugees, Review of Ali Fitzgerald, Drawn to Berlin,” Souciant Magazine, Winter 2018

• McCabe, Allyson, “I am a Camera, Talking with Ali Fitzgerald,” The Rumpus, Nov 5th 2018

• Herndon, Jaime, “Graphic Memoirs and Novels that I’m Excited About Right Now” Book Riot, Nov 6th, 2018

• Dudley, Michael, “Drawn to Berlin: Comic Workshops in Refugee Shelters and Other Stories From a New Europe,” starred review, Library Journal, Oct. 19. 2018

• “Drawn to Berlin,” Publishers Weekly, reviewed on Sept. 17th, 2018

• Gamerman, Ellen, “Graphic Novels Get New Respect,” Wall Street Journal, August 4th, 2018

• Melchior, Marlene, “Seeking refuge: Ali Fitzgerald’s graphic novel, ‘Drawn to Berlin,’ draws an urgent parallel between asylum seekers of today and of the 1920s,” KCRW Berlin, July 18, 2018

• Jones, Rachel Elizabeth, “Cartoonist Ali Fitzgerald Explores Immigration in New Novel,” Seven Days Vermont, 8.11.17

• Oehring, Hanna, “Wert der Kunst,” Zitty, 3.7.2017

• L.K., “Graphic Novels and the Refugee Crisis,” The Economist, 23.2.17

• Coven Berlin, “Visual Interview with Ali Fitzgerald,” covenberlin.com, 16.5.16

• Coyler, Martin, “Quirk, Interview with Ali Fitzgerald,” Varoom Magazine, n.32, 2016 

• Von Törne, Lars, “Berlins Comicszene wird immer internationaler,” Tagesspiegel, 3.4.16

• Fink, Bigna, “Bilder und Bomben,” Tagesspiegel, 11.1.16

• Hofmann, Madeleine, “Wie Flüchtlinge ihre Geschichten in Comics verarbeiten” bento.de, 2016

• Czajkowski, Elise, “Julie Schumacher becomes first woman to win Thurber prize for humor writing” The Guardian, 29.9.15

• Raposo, Maria, “An American Abroad: Interview with Ali Fitzgerald,” Kids of Dada Magazine, 2014

• Jeffers, Jordan, “Interviews with McSweeney’s Columnists,” Jordan Jeffer’s Blog, 2013

• Sayej, Nadja, “Ali Fitzgerald,” Artstarstv.com

• Mcgrane, Sally, “Berlin Off the Wall,” Afar Magazine, June 2012

• Lee, Sasha, “Miami Art Fair Report: The Aqua Hotel,” Beautiful/Decay, December 2007 

• Dee Mitchell, Charles, “Art By Southwest,” Art in America, December 2007 

• Baum, Kelly, ed., The Sirens' Song (DVD catalogue), Austin: Arthouse at the Jones Center, 2007

• Amanda Douberley, “The Sirens' Song”, Glasstire: Texas Visual Art Online, February, 2007.

• Puleo, Risa, “Selections from the Headless Traveling Trench coat,” Artlies (2007)

• Matalon, Mary Katherine, “The Siren’s Song,” Might be good…February 9th 2007

• Horyn, Cathy, “Lone-Star Style,” The New York Times, August 27th, 2006

• Koper, Rachel, “Top 10 Art Installations of 2005,” Austin Chronicle, Jan. 6th 2006