Chloe Wise facts for kids

Chloe Wise (born 1990) is a Canadian artist who lives and works in New York City. She is a multi-talented artist, creating sculptures, drawings, videos, and oil paintings. Wise is famous for her funny and clever art that often features food, fashion, and modern trends.

One of her most famous creations caused a stir in 2014. Actor Bobbi Menuez went to a party for the fashion brand Chanel carrying what looked like a Chanel purse. But it was actually a sculpture by Wise called Bagel No. 5. It was a very realistic sculpture of a bagel with cream cheese, but with a fancy Chanel purse chain and logo. At first, everyone thought it was a real purse from Chanel!

Early Life and School

Chloe Wise was born in Montreal, Quebec, in Canada.

She later studied art at Concordia University and graduated in 2013 with a degree in Fine Arts and Art History.

Famous Artworks

Wise is known for creating art that is both beautiful and makes you think. She often uses everyday objects, especially food, in surprising ways.

The Bread Bags

In 2013, Wise started making a series of sculptures that looked like designer handbags but were made of bread. These sculptures were a playful joke about expensive fashion items called It bags.

The sculptures were not made of real bread. Wise used a strong material called urethane and then painted it with oil paints to make it look exactly like real bread. She then added straps and logos from famous designer brands.

• Baguette Bag: One of the first pieces was a sculpture of a long French baguette. She added straps and a charm from the brand Louis Vuitton, making it look like one of their "baguette" style bags.
• Challah Backpack: She created a backpack that looked like a braided challah bread loaf. She gave it the funny title Ain't No Challah Back Girl and added a Prada logo.
• Bagel No. 5: This is her most well-known piece. It's a sculpture of a bagel with cream cheese, but it has a Chanel chain and charm, turning it into a tiny purse.

Paintings and Exhibitions

Wise is also a talented painter. Her paintings often show close-up views of her friends, food, and other objects from modern life. She uses bright colors and a realistic style.

In 2019, the designer Simon Porte Jacquemus asked Wise to create illustrations for his brand's spring advertising campaign.

Her art has been shown in galleries and museums all over the world.

• In 2017, her show Of false beaches and butter money opened in Paris, France.
• In 2019, she had her first major museum show, called And Everything Was True, at the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark.
• In 2021, her show Thank You For The Nice Fire in New York featured paintings of her friends. It also included amazing paintings of chandeliers that looked like they were made of romaine lettuce covered in salad dressing. This style of painting, which tricks the eye into thinking something is real, is called trompe-l'oeil.

What Her Art Is About

Chloe Wise uses her art to explore big ideas in a fun way. She often makes fun of consumer culture, which is the idea of buying things to show who you are. She looks at how we build our identities through the clothes we wear and the food we eat.

She uses comedy and satire in her work. For example, her bread bags poke fun at how much people are willing to pay for a designer logo. By making these luxury items out of something as simple as bread, she makes us question what is truly valuable.

Her work is inspired by art history, especially a type of Dutch still-life painting called pronkstilleven. These were paintings from the 1600s that showed off fancy and expensive objects. Wise gives this old style a modern twist. She makes jokes about our world, but she also shows that she is a part of it too.

Where to See Her Art

Chloe Wise's artwork is part of the official collections of several major museums, including:

• The Julia Stoschek Collection in Dusseldorf, Germany
• The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, California
• The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario