Thistle Wise is an oil painter based out of Concord, North Carolina. Wise’s work discusses identity and the gender binary, the narratives of presentation that we hold in our hearts and that we present to the outside world.
Working in traditional portraiture, their expressive brushwork combines with the neon landscape of the 21st century to contrast the inner and outer selves, and the folkloric influences of their small hometown.
Originally from Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, Wise graduated with Outstanding Achievement honors from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. They have a penchant for unicorns, queer literature, and pink glitter.
Focusing on the self through my works lends a narrative juxtaposition of the pastoral peace of my daily life and the deeper darker pitfalls of nostalgic identity and the folkloric southern gothic supernatural felt both within me and in the woods that surround me.
The outsider nature curates a familiar language of symbology as representations of the self that is understandable and recognizable, while abstract enough to connect to wider personal interpretation.
The influence that comes from the academic history of the oil painting medium, by training, and by a modern approach combines that long history with the now, integrating modern colors with the stories that live inside us and reflect where our roots come from and the connection that I have to my hometown. Like telling an oral history, the brushes of the past can be felt and seen through the impasto nature of the paint and how crafting an identity through my works allows for the inner to become outer self expression.