“I'm not talking about terrain here,” the artist says. “I use that term to describe my community, my region. It's a metaphoric landscape.” Rather than trees, flowers, and antebellum mansions, Wise's art features everything from Elvis Presley and hoopskirts to Victorian drapery and petticoats.

“I have competing desires: to make a comment and to make a painting,” Wise says. “So I bring all these thoughts to the table. Then I forget about them, and I start to work. Once I begin to work, it's me and the canvas.”

Wise admits that his paintings often end up looking so non-objective that the content of his work takes a backseat to formal concerns. This result does not bother Wise. He says, “More than anything I want to create good-looking pictures.”

Wise has had numerous exhibitions in the region including solo shows at Hendrix College, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and the University of Central Arkansas. Recently, Wise was selected by Open Studios Press to be included in their Southern Edition of emerging artists in this year's June publication of New American Paintings. His work will be part of an exhibition, Perfect Fit, which travels this fall to Simpson College, the Walton Arts Center (January 2003), and Widener University (Spring 2003). When Wise is not creating art, he teaches painting, drawing, and printmaking at the University of Arkansas. He has also taught at the University of Iowa, Hendrix College, and the University of Central Arkansas.