Emily Wise: You Too Will Become A Dove On Fire

Simard Bilodeau is thrilled to present You Too Will Become A Dove On Fire, Emily Wise’s first solo exhibition with the gallery on view from 16 November 2024 to 21 December 2024. In her lush acrylic and flashe canvases, Wise weaves multi-dimensions narratives that explore and interrogate the existence of a sacred feminine space.

In this new body of work, the American artist engages in the practice of surrealist mythmaking, dissolving the boundaries of reality and dream to render a shared emotional topography. This sequential series –like many of Wise’s previous– is accompanied by a poetic premise: a group of tired vending machines fall asleep, collectively dreaming they are women, who are doves, who are becoming fire—burning through the veils of eternity.

Wise’s aptitude for storytelling grounds her work in its own reality, though it is not meant for literal translation. Instead, it reveals possibilities, mirroring the very nature of poetry, which Wise feels is closer to what she seeks to convey in her practice. Rather than telling the viewer where they are, her words gently usher them in, acting as an intermediary that complements the visual experience and leaves space for personal interpretation. Whilst Wise’s paintings are conceived within an allegorical framework, they rebuke linearity. In her own words, she likens the creative process to a dynamic race between her imagination, the supplementary written tale and the painting, where each art form overtakes the other to reveal a narrative world with compelling ambiguity.

Wise implicates herself and her viewers within these vast and complex internal realms using tangible forms; lithe, fragmented female bodies intermingling with swathes of botanicals, comfortable in their natural states, engaging in scenes of intimacy and cherished coexistence. Alluding to the feminine connection to fable that has existed throughout human history, the subjects of Wise’s paintings carry the burdens and bounties of their lore. The act of painting, evolutionary and intuitive by nature, attempts to release these figures from their mythological roles as goddess, heroine and femme fatale. Here, the dove, with its connotations of purity and peace, becomes a metaphor for the female experience, shifting the focus to a collective objective where she exists simply for herself. Alight, the dove represents a state of quiet anger and the burning of these burdens into bliss.

Throughout the exhibition, Wise experiments with varying levels of abstraction to communicate the evolution of emotion and experience as the figures outgrow their psychological surroundings. In this sense, each painting is a portal on a path headed in the same direction. In the piece ‘Reverse Birth’ for example, we’re oriented in a transactional space where invisible forces find form in soft undulations that collage a metaphysical journey back to one’s origin. Here, Wise alludes to a reconnection with the higher feminine or mother figure, and the rediscovery of identity through the cyclical process of rebirth.

The vivid contrast in Wise's paintings, as in ‘It’s Like You Never Had Wings’ creates an almost kaleidoscopic effect, evincing dimensions of overlapping and intersecting shapes and colours that seem to breathe and hum together. There's a thermal quality to her work, as Wise experiences colour on a sound spectrum, with hot pinks and zesty oranges resonating at the highest pitch. As such, each painting feels as though it possesses its own light and soul, radiating an inner energy that invites the viewer to sensorily experience the embedded worlds beyond the surface.

Emily Wise (b.1988) was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. She received her BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, where she currently lives and works. In 2023, she was listed by Artsy as Artist to Watch. She has exhibited across Portland at ChefasProjects, Fishbowl Gallery, c3 Initiative and ADX Gallery. She was featured for the first time with DTLA based gallery Simard Bilodeau Contemporary at Future Fair in New York City May 2024.