Emily Wolfe is a New Zealand‑born painter based in London, United Kingdom, whose work investigates memory, illusion, materiality, image-making, and time. Wolfe studied at Elam School of Fine Arts (University of Auckland) and completed a Master of Fine Arts at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. Since locating to London, she has maintained an international practice with regular exhibitions in both Aotearoa and the UK. 

Wolfe’s work is distinguished by a highly methodical, multi-stage technique. She begins by creating collages from images of 17th- and 18th-century European landscape prints, coloured paper, masking tape, and studio detritus, assembling and reassembling them until compositions emerge. These collages are then photographed, and the photographs form the basis for her paintings. On canvas, she applies layer upon layer of oil paint, building surfaces gradually while referencing the textures and tones of the original paper and photographic source. She often works with thin glazes, delicate scumbling, and precise brushwork, sometimes incorporating small bits of paper or subtle impasto to echo the tactile quality of the collage. This layering process creates depth, optical ambiguity, and a sense of temporal folding, where past, present, and memory coexist within the painted surface. 

In her recent work, Wolfe merges illusory landscapes, imagined interiors, and fragments of domestic objects—faded wallpaper, lace curtains, chairs and scraps of paper—into compositions that are simultaneously familiar and uncanny. Intersecting planes and subtle shifts in perspective generate trompe-l’oeil effects, inviting viewers to explore how layers of image and material interact, revealing the traces of her process as much as the depicted subject.

Wolfe has exhibited widely in public galleries and commercial spaces. Recent exhibitions include a solo presentation at Art Singapore with The Renshaws and Long Distance (2024) at Melanie Roger Gallery (Auckland). Earlier group and curated exhibitions include Sleight of Hand at The Suter Art Gallery (Nelson) and East End Academy: The Painting Edition at Whitechapel Gallery (London).

In 2026, she will feature in Imaginative Reality - a group exhibition at Yu-Hsiu Museum of Art in Taiwan from 19 September 2026 to 17 January 2027. 

Her work is held in public cand private collections throughout Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally. Through her meticulous layering and refined painting techniques, Wolfe’s work interrogates perception, memory, and the construction of imagery, creating canvases that are at once deeply material and psychologically resonant.