Eloise Hess, a 30-year-old artist based in Los Angeles and a 2024 Yale Painting/Printmaking MFA graduate, has developed a unique image-making process that blurs the line between photography and painting. Her technique involves transferring photographs wet onto absorbent paper, embedding the print in an encaustic surface, and then painting, carving, and manipulating the image to create records of landscapes, shadows, gestures, and time. She discusses her work "Early Morning Tomorrow," a screenprint of photographs taken with her father, and reflects on themes of time, resonance, and capacity.
This profile is part of Cultured's 2025 Young Artists list, which highlights emerging talents shaping the contemporary art world. Hess's innovative hybrid process challenges traditional distinctions between mediums, offering a fresh perspective on how artists can merge photographic and painterly techniques to explore memory and perception. Her inclusion in this list signals her growing relevance and potential impact on the art scene.