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Meet Chloe Wise, the Canadian Artist Behind Olivia Rodrigo's Sold-Out Picture Disc Vinyl
In January, the Montreal-born, New York-based artist received a direct message on social media from the pop singer’s team. They asked Wise to create a painting to be pressed on a picture disc vinyl, for what would become Rodrigo’s third straight chart-topping album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love.
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Rodrigo told Wise that she had been a fan of her work for “a long time,” a moment that Wise describes as encouraging. “It's really nice to be reminded that your work might travel further than you think.”
The image of Rodrigo, taken by photographer Chad Moore, depicts the singer in a pink floral babydoll dress, enraptured by a silver knife that she is holding close to her face, while surrounded by lush greenery.
It reflects a shared sensibility, she says, presenting a romantic image of femininity with something more ominous or complex lurking beneath the surface.
“When I saw the image, I thought it made so much sense within my body of work. I love her music, and I love how she can carry this sort of contradiction with her music, that I try to carry in my work,” she explains. “There's this combination of being in love, but having this fear. There's longing, and there's desire, and there's uncertainty. There's something eerie, but also something super feminine.”
Chloe Wise
In the 2010s, Wise started her career in painting, capturing youthful, surrealist imagery that almost always brought the quirks of womanhood to the forefront. While Wise is Canadian and American, she was born and raised in Montreal, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University. After graduation, she promptly headed to New York, where she has lived for over a decade — but she still sees Canada as home.
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"I definitely identify as a Montrealer, especially living in the U.S. I feel very Canadian," she says. "That said, when I'm in Montreal, I feel very American."
As Wise's artistry progressed, she moved beyond solely painting, in favour of other forms of art such as film, photography and sculpture. But when Rodrigo’s message came through, Wise tapped into a past version of herself.
“It was a joy to paint,” she says. “When she brought this image to me, it looked very familiar, and spoke to me in a lot of ways. I think that as artists, we're a very natural pairing.”
During the process, Wise says she listened to Rodrigo’s first two albums, Sour and Guts, to “get in the zone," while working on the piece. “This painting speaks to her new album, but also carries through themes of her old album. Her music has this sweetness to it and vulnerability, but there's also this unsettling component to it,” she explains.
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Rodrigo put her full trust in Wise’s creative vision, something she really respected. “Just do your thing, we love your work,” she recalls Rodrigo saying to her. When she finished the painting in March — titled "carve our names," a nod to a lyric on Rodrigo's track "U + me = <3" — it was met with effusive praise and was sent to vinyl production shortly after.
While the opportunity marked Wise’s first time creating a piece of art to be pressed on vinyl, she says it didn’t compromise her artistic process. “The painting's actually a rectangle. I still wanted to make things that felt natural to the visual parameters that I work with. As long as it works for what she needs, we're going to have a beautiful combination of results.”
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Chloe Wise
The pair finally met in person at a Met Gala afterparty in May, and as expected, instantly hit it off.
“We just hugged and started chatting, and then we spent the whole night hanging out,” Wise shares. “I got to hear how much she liked the painting, and that felt incredible.
Now, she reveals, Rodrigo has the painting up in her apartment. “I'm really excited to go see it next time I see her.”
When the singer started rolling out the you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love vinyl variants, Wise’s picture disc vinyl sold out almost everywhere.
“I'm seeing the impact she's having, and the way that people respond to her and to her work,” Wise says. “It feels otherworldly to be involved with her album."
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