Emma Stern’s figurative paintings muddle boundaries between virtual and real life. Fusing traditional oil portraiture with 3D rendering techniques, her portraits of nude women explore selfhood and femininity in the internet age. After graduating with a BFA from Pratt Institute, Stern has widely exhibited in New York City, and her erotic-yet-cartoonish portraits speak to hot-button issues as varied as misogyny in gaming culture and the limits of transhumanism. Her figures—designed with computer software before being physically painted—include characters like elves, cowgirls, and pinup girls through whom she explores the personas of and fantasies around female archetypes that pervade cyberspace. For Stern, each subject serves as both muse and a projection of herself, thus engaging with ideas around representation, transformation, and fetishization.