How Chloe Wise Went from Viral Sensation to Art Market Star

This year, Wise had a solo show at Almine Rech in New York, where she lives and works. She exhibited mostly paintings, save for some sculptures of blocks of butter and hyperrealistic Caesar salad–inspired light fixtures, complete with croutons and a creamy dressing. “The work itself is very sensual, witty, surprising, unexpected. Almost on the verge of surreal,” noted Landau. “I think she’s now in a period of lettuce and butter.”

Wise’s well-received gallery show opened just a few weeks before her secondary-market debut for an oil painting, at Sotheby’s New York salesroom in March 2021. Her diptych I was dating two tauruses at the same time, they were so different (2015) exceeded its high estimate of $70,000 and sold for $94,500. Last year a print by Wise also performed well at auction, when Gluten Freedom (2017) sold for £6,930 ($9,000) at Phillips in November 2020, far exceeding its high estimate of £1,200 ($1,560).