Blake Emory
A creator before he had a name for it.
Blake Emory was born in 1983 and raised in Plant City, Florida, into an unconventional family of artists, inventors, and musicians. Alongside his brother James, creativity was simply the family language: music, theater, sculpture, set design, mural and canvas painting, all treated as a single continuous practice rather than separate disciplines.
The instinct showed early. In third grade, he sold his first piece of art, a crayon drawing of a famous baseball player, to a classmate. By fifth grade he had started his first tee-shirt business. At fifteen, he established his first paying art connection at a local restaurant in Plant City.
Music came next: he formed the musical act Espionage in 1997, touring clubs from Florida to Vancouver. Theater followed: writing, producing, and designing sets for original stage productions at Cigar Theater in Ybor City in 2004. Each medium fed the next. Painting and sculpture became the throughline that carried everything else, eventually leading to co-founding ESP Gallery in Chelsea, New York alongside Guillo Pérez 3 in 2012, the debut of his Zebra Love Collection at Art Basel Miami in 2014, and the founding of Etherealism, his own art movement, in 2023.
He currently lives and works in St. Petersburg, Florida. His original paintings, sculpture, and film work are available through Marcolina's Fine Arts Gallery.
"With art as a sword, the battle to break through continues."
Blake Emory
The Zebra Love Collection.
Emory debuted the Zebra Love Collection at Art Basel Miami in December 2014, in the Optic Modernism exhibition at Spectrum Miami. The body of work explores movement, optical illusion, and identity through a high-contrast visual language, blending fashion with the divine geometry of the animal kingdom. Look closely and the silhouette of a female model appears within the pattern. The series places him in front of the international collector audience that defines Art Basel's week, and it remains one of his most widely recognized bodies of work.
Two works from the series, Shauna 1 and Shauna 2, remain available through Marcolina's today, a rare opportunity to acquire a piece of the collection that first put his name in front of a global audience.
Emory Vodka. A limited-edition vodka released in March 2015, modeled on the Zebra Love Collection. The bottle was designed with one of the paintings in mind.
Bold craftsmanship, optical intrigue.
A search for original thought.
In 2023, Emory founded Etherealism, an art movement that pulls from across art history while pushing artists to move beyond conventional thought patterns and tap into the ethereal and the sublime. He outlined its principles in the published "Manifesto of Etherealism," written under the name Sir Blake Emory.
The movement extends a body of work he and his brother James have built together for over two decades, including the earlier Neo-Renaissance movement, both rooted in the same belief: that original thought, not imitation, is the artist's real responsibility.
The Ethereal: Episode I.
Beyond canvas and sculpture, Emory works in experimental and visual storytelling through film. His short film The Ethereal: Episode I builds on his painted work, an immersive narrative exploring transformation, identity, and the metaphysical, blending original art, conceptual design, and surreal performance into a single continuous visual language.
Episode I was shown at a viewing at the Salvador Dalí Museum, then premiered at Tampa Theater alongside Guillo Pérez 3 and Marcolina Mercado in 2025. A second episode is currently in production.
From the Dalí Museum to Tampa Theater.
A life-size Babe Ruth.
Emory's Babe Ruth sculpture shows Ruth at the plate, pointing toward the outfield seats. It was made for the centennial of Ruth's first spring training visit to St. Petersburg.
It reimagines an icon of American legacy through a modern, expressive lens, bringing the same optical intensity that defines his paintings into three-dimensional public space.
Alabaster, metal, and wood.
Sculpture runs through Emory's work as much as paint does. He has carved Father Time in alabaster marble, built a steampunk kraken and a Rosie the Riveter, and made a metal fountain and a horse bust. He works in wood as well.
A news feature on his fire dragon is included below, with the pieces.
Murals that become sculpture.
Emory has completed numerous large-scale murals across Tampa Bay and throughout New Mexico, including extensive work in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Grants, frequently blending the wall itself with sculptural elements that extend beyond the surface into three dimensions. In August 2023, he and Guillo Pérez 3 covered Cage Brewing in St. Petersburg with a giant octopus mural, its tentacles physically reaching beyond the building's walls into the sky. Creative Loafing Tampa Bay named it among Tampa Bay's must-see murals.
Own a Blake Emory.
Original paintings and sculpture, private viewings in Tampa or virtually, payment plans, and shipping worldwide with full insurance.
Two decades of practice.
Born
Raised alongside his brother James in a family of artists, inventors, and musicians.
Sells his first piece of art in third grade. Starts a tee-shirt business in fifth grade. By fifteen, his first paying art connection. Forms the musical act Espionage in 1997, touring clubs from Florida to Vancouver.
Writes, produces, and designs sets for original theatrical productions in Ybor City, while continuing to develop his canvas and mural practice.
2012
Co-founds Artist Revolution Studios, then in 2012 co-founds ESP Gallery in Chelsea, New York alongside Guillo Pérez 3, establishing a sustained presence in the world's most concentrated gallery district.
2014
Shown in the Optic Modernism exhibition at Spectrum Miami, the collection explores movement, optical illusion, and identity, placing him in front of the international collector audience that defines Art Basel's week.
2015
A limited-edition premium vodka modeled on the Zebra Love Collection, carrying his name and original artwork on the bottle.
Returns to Tampa Bay to found a gallery in the same Ybor City neighborhood where his practice first took shape nearly two decades earlier.
2023
Emory and Guillo Pérez 3 cover Cage Brewing in a giant octopus, part mural, part sculpture, with tentacles extending beyond the building's walls into the sky. Creative Loafing Tampa Bay names it among Tampa Bay's must-see murals →
Publishes the Manifesto of Etherealism, outlining a movement built around the search for original thought.
Completes numerous large-scale murals throughout the Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Grants area, extending his public art practice well beyond Tampa Bay.
2025
The sculpture marks 100 years since Babe Ruth's first spring training visit to St. Petersburg. It now has its permanent home at the St. Petersburg Museum of History.
His short film The Ethereal: Episode I is shown at the Salvador Dalí Museum, then premieres at Tampa Theater alongside Guillo Pérez 3 and Marcolina Mercado. A second episode is currently in production.
2026
Continues to push across painting, sculpture, and film. Original works available through Marcolina's Fine Arts Gallery by private appointment. Payment plans available. Ships worldwide with full insurance.
Watch the interview with Marcolina's.
Collecting Blake Emory.
Painting, sculpture, set design, and experimental film, all unified under his Etherealism and earlier Neo-Renaissance practice.
Yes. Shauna 1 and Shauna 2, both from the original Zebra Love series first shown at Art Basel Miami in 2014, are currently available through Marcolina's.
Yes, payment plans are available on all original works, with worldwide shipping and a certificate of authenticity included.
Private viewings available in Tampa or virtually, worldwide. Payment plans and full-insurance shipping included on every original work.
View the Collection