Emily Wise (b.1988) was born and raised between upstate New York and Baltimore, Maryland. She received a BFA in Painting from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, where she currently lives and works. Driven by curiosities around femininity, intimacy, and the mysteries of the natural world, Wise paints carefully posed bodies amidst surreal flora, using unexpected fluorescent colors to both surprise and disarm. Beneath their vibrant surfaces, Wise’s paintings craft layered stories of women building relationships with themselves and their follow women in spaces somewhere between the realities of waking life and the limitless possibilities of dreams.

Enmeshing tales of the Pleiades with the Celtic lore of banshees and personal memories of late night drives in the middle of nowhere, Wise asks through her work and the women she paints questions of possibility and potentiality.

Leaning into her love for storytelling, Wise composes narratives that animate her subjects by cobbling together inspiration from classic mythologies, poetry, and pure imagination for other places. Enmeshing tales of the Pleiades with the Celtic lore of banshees and personal memories of late night drives in the middle of nowhere, Wise asks through her work and the women she paints questions of possibility and potentiality: What do the emotional and intangible connections between women look and feel like? What and where is a sacred, feminine space? Where does one go when they outgrow themself? Rather than merely illustrating her stories, her paintings open worlds that blend the real and the fantastic to envision women existing comfortably, casually, and of their own accord.

Wise’s work has been featured on national and international platforms including Juxtapoz and Artsy, and has been exhibited in venues across Portland, Los Angeles, and New York. In 2024, Wise was named as a shortlist finalist for The Hopper Prize. Wise is currently represented by Chefas Projects.

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