Welcome to Cole Fortier! aka Epoxy INCUBATOR Art Lab's Alumni Artist in Residence 2021
Cole Fortier (aka Epoxy )
| Artist | Entrepreneur | Drag Queen |
Cole Fortier is a Windsor born artist, small business owner and drag performer. He graduated from the University of Windsor in 2015 with a degree in Fine Arts. Post-grad he focused on working in the field of graphic design, obtaining a contract with Urban Outfitters US. He sold over 2000 copies of his prints through Urban Outfitters locations globally. He continued to utilize his creative abilities while running his own small business, Interrobang Vintage, which quickly became one of the most popular shopping destinations for fashionable Windsorites. Through the success of his online shop, he has sold thousands of sustainable fashion items world-wide. Many of his customers have been costume and production companies for television and film. In January 2020 he sold several items to be used as costume and set design for Stranger Things (season 4). His business came to a halt during Covid-19, as he shut the doors to his brick and mortar location of his shop. Being in quarantine and lockdown gave Cole the time to focus on becoming a drag performer, as it had always been an art-medium that interested him. As pandemic restrictions begin to ease, Cole has been focusing on rebooting the physical aspect of Interrobang Vintage, as well as performing in drag in the public sphere.
Cole Fortier (aka Epoxy) will be working with Incubator Art Lab over the month of November 2021, focusing on sustainable fashion and drag as themes. Cole is hyper focused on the idea that ‘fast-fashion’ is a major detriment to the global fashion landscape, and has been actively working against it by selling sustainable fashion in stores and online since 2015. Fast-fashion relies on immoral labour, mass consumerism and anti-environmental methods, in order to feed the global need. In addition, drag is often a very consumer-heavy art medium, relying on sweat shop made, one-time use costumes. Cole would like to explore the concept of ‘slow-fashion’ as an art medium, through the eyes of his drag persona ‘Epoxy’.
Instagram@epoxy_thedragqueen
TikTok@epoxy_thedragqueen
@interrobangvintage
Image Credits
1) Cole Fortier, Portirat. Image Credit: Davina Kudish.
2) Cole Fortier as Epoxy, Self Portrait, 2021. Image Credit: Cole Fortier