Chloe Wise is a Canadian-born, New York-based artist recognised for her faux bread bags and portraits of young people that imitate glamorous selfies on social media.
Read MoreChloe Wise graduated with a BFA in Studio Art and Art History from Concordia University, Montreal in 2013.
Chloe Wise first received attention in 2014 for her 'Bread Bag' series, in which she juxtaposes urethane bread pieces with designer logos to create handbags, when her friend and actor Bobbi Salvör Menuez wore Bagel No. 5 (2014) to a Chanel party. Consisting of a cream cheese bagel and a Chanel charm, the work went viral on the Internet.
Among the 'Bread Bag' series are sandwiches forming a Prada bag in American Classic and an impressive accumulation of pancakes with a Chanel logo in Pancake No. 5 (both 2015). In combining pastries and designer brands, traditional symbols of wealth that are now also associated with young influencers, Wise alludes to the contemporary phenomena of self-branding and the irreplaceable presence of social media.
Since 'Bread Bag', Chloe Wise has employed images of various foodstuffs and young people in sculptures, paintings, and works on paper.
Thank You For The Nice Fire, her solo exhibition at Almine Rech New York in 2021, included a chandelier made of faux lettuce leaves and caesar salad dressing, with the latter forming a small puddle of white substance on the gallery floor. Evocations of fashion photography proliferated at the exhibition, such as It's the best time in the world to be a cherry (2020), which shows a nude torso of a woman with her gloved hand over a young man's shoulders, and A frenzy of indifference (2021), in which a young woman holds up her manicured hands to either side of her head.
Wise also referenced the playful side of social media in more intimately sized paintings that feature zoomed-in smiling faces, including Daniela and Sasha with Lettuce (both 2021).
Chloe Wise's work has led to commissions and collaborations in the fashion industry. Her painting La Riviera (2019), commissioned by Simon Porte Jacquemus, depicts young women in clothes from the fashion designer's 2019 collection. In 2020, Wise worked with fashion brand Études to launch the 'Museum' collection, in which her paintings appear cropped on a range of clothing items.
Selected solo exhibitions of Chloe Wise's work include Thank You For The Nice Fire, Almine Rech, New York (2021); And Everything Was True, HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark (2019); Coast unclear seeks rained parade, Galerie Sébastien Bertrand, Geneva (2018); Of false beaches and butter money, Almine Rech, Paris (2017); and pissing, shmoozing and looking away, Galerie Division, Montreal and Division Gallery, Toronto (2015).
Selected group exhibitions include North by Northeast, Kasmin Gallery, New York (2021); The Artist is Online, König Galerie, Berlin (2021); Sympathetic Magic, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2020); Domestic Horror, Gagosian, New York (2019); and John Riepenhoff, Atlanta Contemporary (2015).
On Ocula, the artist is represented by Almine Rech. Recent exhibitions hosted by Almine Rech include Salon de Peinture (2021), Un Hiver à Gstaad Paris (2021), and Painting Someone (2020).
Chloe Wise's website can be found here and her Instagram can be found here.
Sherry Paik | Ocula | 2021
