Entangled bodies dominate the dark, shallow space of Chloe Wise’s new paintings at Almine Rech Gallery, recalling dynamic figures from the late Renaissance. Titles like, ‘This Offworld Impulse’ (picturing a reclining person, youthful and slim gazing skyward) and here, ‘Wake up, mutate and ascend’ both point to experience that transcends corporality. Taking inspiration from historical paintings featuring contact between the heavenly and earthly realms (she cites El Greco’s rendition of St Francis of Assisi receiving stigmata), Wise pictures people in contemporary clothes and hairstyles alongside partially visible figures in satin gloves or red stockings. Though modeled on historical characters experiencing the divine, Wise’s figures roll their eyes a little too far heavenward while striking self-conscious poses, rooting them in the here and now. (On view through tomorrow, Oct 25th, at Almine Rech’s Tribeca gallery).
