Artist Chloe Wise on her biggest solo exhibition to date
Image credit: Getty images.
Over the past few months, Montreal-born New York-based artist Chloe Wise’s peripatetic lifestyle led her to call Copenhagen home as she created new work in preparation for her largest solo show to date, at the Heart Herning Museum of Contemporary Art.
The 29-year-old’s portraits parody a consumerist world that she is consciously part of and exercise the classical training she received through her BA in fine art from Montreal’s Concordia University (she graduated with a distinction in 2013). In her piece, (2019), Eric Christison — the Canadian choreographic director behind the Gucci spring summer 2020 show — and author Martin Kongstad recline against swathes of jewel-toned fabrics; another titled (2019) depicts American artist Puppets and Puppets co-founder, Carly Mark, wearing an ironic T-shirt emblazoned with ‘S.P.E.R.M. Society for the Preservation of Equal Rights for Men’. (2017), meanwhile, shows model Lily McMenamy dressed in a voluminous white top, posing with a can of Nestlé condensed milk. These brushes of humour paired with attention to colour, drape and light are among the reasons why Simon Porte Jacquemus tapped Wise to paint his spring/summer 2019 campaign images.
Image credits: Getty images
As one exhibition opens, work on another begins. Next, a group show called that will see her work displayed alongside Matisse and Picasso at the Almine Rech Gallery in New York. Between sittings, Wise delivers words about her influences, collaborating with Jacquemus and using fashion as a tool for communication.
Image credit: courtesy of Jacquemus
You live in New York, but you were based in Copenhagen while preparing for your solo exhibition. How has the Danish capital influenced you and your work?
Chloe Wise [CW]: “My process changes by virtue of making work all the time, whether that’s looking at people in a certain light or thinking about colours and shadows differently, or reflecting on something I learned at college. Painting is about observing.”
“Generally, I really thrive in a fast setting like New York and I find I’m always running in a way, constantly creating and never really stopping to take a break. At the same time, I welcome pauses from that. There’s a lot going on in Copenhagen, but there are less distractions and I definitely don’t feel as fearful of missing out on things since being here. With the exhibition [at Heart Herning Museum of Contemporary Art], I haven’t had the luxury of slowing down, but being in a city that’s calmer, where the air and water is cleaner and you can go swimming in the harbour, it’s made me appreciate patience.”
Image credit: Rebecca Fanuele
“The most bizarre thing is listening to [the US] news, especially if I tune out for a few days and then tune back in. The further you are away from it, the more aware you become of what a circus the political situation is. Seeing what goes on with the Trump administration — the systemic injustices there — and the sensational way in which the media covers it, it’s leading to a culture of normalisation and is [perpetuating a] ‘not my problem’ attitude.”
Image credit: Rebecca Fanuele
Which artists have had the greatest influence on you?
[CW]: “I’ve always loved the way [visual artist] Alice Neel handled paint and the way she depicted people she met in an almost documentarian way at her home, as though they were part of a scrapbook or yearbook. When I was in London [in early 2019], I went to see the Sorolla exhibition at the National Gallery and it really taught me a lot — the way he treated light made me cry and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it ever since.”
Image credit: Melissa Castro Duarte
Can you identify any common traits in the subjects of your paintings? What values do you look for in people?
[CW]: “I hate the word ‘inspire’ because it’s so overused, but people who have a desire to create excite me, whether that be making music or painting or choreography. It’s often when I’m having a good conversation with someone that I find myself looking at their face noticing that they have interesting features.”
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“It’s not always about painting people who are in my immediate vicinity, either. For one of the group portraits I painted for the [Heart Herning Museum of Contemporary Art] show, people flew into Copenhagen from Paris, London, New York and Los Angeles. Technology enables us to be in constant communication with people around the world and I’m always taking pictures, so sometimes I collage them together to make a group portrait.”
Image credit: Rebecca Fanuele
Unless you’re painting nudes, painting people means painting clothes. How powerful do you think fashion can be as a communication tool?
[CW]: “While the fashion industry moves at an extremely rapid pace — styles are in for six months then bye, and back they come as retro a few years later (with the exception of fast fashion, of course) — it doesn’t purport to be a deeper philosophical endeavour. It’s aware of its own mortality.”
“It’s a bizarre misconception that art is a more intellectually apt space for dialogue than fashion because obviously the art world is so market-driven and elitist, and only a select few can communicate using international art speak. Art pretends to be eternal, art purports to be this much deeper expression of the human condition, but it’s just as fleeting and trend-based as fashion at times.”
“Just look at brands such as Eckhaus Latta, Pyer Moss and Puppets and Puppets — they have an almost community spirit and look to activists, chefs, teachers, artists, musicians to front their campaigns and walk in their shows, as well as models. It’s a sign that fashion is opening up and reaching out for more people to participate and ultimately become more representative.”
Image credit: Herning Museum of Contemporary Art
You painted the Jacquemus spring/summer 2019 campaign. Why was it important for you to collaborate on this project and what do you like about Simon’s designs in particular?
[CW]: “Simon [Porte Jacquemus] and I met at the bar La Perle in Paris a few years ago. He’s a great dancer and his energy is so contagious. I spend a lot of time in the south of France, and he’s the go-to guide for all the hidden gems on the Riviera — always visiting places such as Santo Sospir [a villa decorated by French poet Jean Cocteau] and Le Corbusier-designed buildings.”
“I like that he’s not only presenting a historical image of the south of France; it’s a modern interpretation, too. It encompasses the hip-hop scene and tourists with their binoculars and passport holders. There’s this hilarious campy drama to his collections with the giant hats and tiny bags. I always add a layer of humour into my paintings and it’s not obvious they’re made in 2019, so we share that.”
Image credit: Herning Museum of Contemporary Art
How do you want people to feel when they see your work?
[CW]: “Recently, my paintings have been about groups of people cropped in such a way that you focus on individuals. As a viewer there are so many eyes on you, like a stare down, as if to say, ‘What are you looking at?’ — whereas in the past, they have perhaps captured a more voyeuristic moment where the subject seems unaware they are being painted.”
“I wanted to create that feeling of isolation, but also togetherness that can be found in community — we all know how it feels to be in a room full of people and feel alone — and play on the idea of selfhood. There’s a performative nature to coexisting in a group; the dynamics that play out naturally, or unnaturally, roles that we take on, the roles we think we should take on.”
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