Blake Emory
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, guided by his siblings, 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 in Tampa. Each medium fed the next, until painting and sculpture became the throughline that carried everything else.
"With art as a sword, the battle to break through continues."
Emory's breakout moment arrives at Art Basel Miami 2015 with the Zebra Love Collection, a body of work exploring movement, optical illusion, and identity through a high-contrast visual language. 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.
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.
Beyond canvas and sculpture, Emory works in experimental and visual storytelling through film. His short film The Ethereal 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.
Emory works in large-scale public art alongside his studio practice. His monumental Babe Ruth sculpture, unveiled in St. Petersburg, Florida, 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.
Emory has completed numerous large-scale murals across Tampa Bay and throughout New Mexico, including extensive mural 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 fellow Marcolina's artist 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.
That same instinct to push past a single medium runs through the rest of his practice. Emory has also launched his own branded spirit, Emory Vodka, depicting his name and original artwork on the bottle.
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, establishes his first paying art connection. In 1997, forms the musical act Espionage, 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 fellow Marcolina's artist Guillo Pérez 3, establishing a presence in the world's most concentrated gallery district years before either painter's Tampa Bay practice began.
His breakout body of work explores movement, optical illusion, and identity, placing him in front of the international collector audience that defines Art Basel's week.
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 fellow Marcolina's artist Guillo Pérez 3 cover Cage Brewing in a giant octopus, part mural and 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.
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.
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 2015 Art Basel Miami series, 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 CollectionBlake Emory is one voice among many at Marcolina's.
Marcolina's represents a curated roster of emerging and established artists across Tampa Bay and beyond, each selected for integrity, craftsmanship, and the ability to hold a room.
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