The Origin of the World, 2025
Elise Rise (b. 1993, Richmond, VA) is a Brooklyn-based painter whose work explores consciousness through the connection between people and plants.
Her paintings mix photorealistic detail with the fantastical, expressed through unexpected juxtapositions and luminosity.
Rise graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in Art & Archaeology and Visual Arts. Her background in art history informs her interest in how artists through the ages have navigated questions of identity and meaning. In 2025, she left a career in marketing to paint full time.
In April 2026, Rise presents Seeds Are Little Brains at New Gallery in Brooklyn, NY — her most cohesive body of work to date.