In Jewel-Like Paintings, Wiley Wallace Conjures Enchantment in the Desert

From mysterious lights and malevolent mists to ghosts and spirits like the Diné’s skinwalkers, the desert has long spawned myths and tales of the supernatural. The American West, in particular, is characterized by its vast canyons, plateaus, and mountains, along with the rugged individualism of its inhabitants who make their lives in a landscape many would deem inhospitable. It’s also not difficult to imagine how the atmospheres of powerful monsoons, the unrelenting sun, or the light of a full moon may conjure the uncanny.

Wiley Wallace, who is based in Phoenix, harnesses the magic of the desert in glowing acrylic paintings featuring crystals, enigmatic energy forces, starlight, and specters. His current solo exhibition, Night Bloom at Arch Enemy Arts, features suitably gem-like works that are 16 inches wide at the largest and as small as six by six inches, exhibiting incredible detail.

a small acrylic painting by Wiley Wallace of a dusky desert scene with a billowing cloud over the horizon and a seated woman in the foreground with a jar full of tiny lights — “Passage” (2026), acrylic on panel, 6 x 6 inches

In dusky desert scenes, figures convene around nebula-like swirls of light and giant prismatic crystals that appear to rise right in front of them. Wallace evokes wonder and contemplation more than fear or trepidation, as if these events have been sought or even summoned. They may also represent portals, perhaps to other spirit realms or phases of life, with their inherent enchantment in the unexplained and the sublime.

Night Bloom continues through August 30 in Philadelphia. See more on the artist’s Instagram.

a small acrylic painting by Wiley Wallace of a dusky desert scene with three young women standing around a nebula-like energy force — “Night Bloom” (2026), acrylic on panel, 16 x 12 inches

a small acrylic painting by Wiley Wallace of a dusky desert scene with a woman standing in the foreground, an empty billboard in the background — “Drifting” (2026), acrylic on panel, 11 x 14 inches

a small acrylic painting in a hexagonal shape by Wiley Wallace of a dusky desert scene with a woman seated next to a geometric, crystalline structure — “Dream Mineral” (2026), acrylic on panel, 12-inch hexagon

a small acrylic painting by Wiley Wallace of a dusky desert scene with a prismatic crystal in the foreground — “Desert Prism” (2026), acrylic on panel, 6 x 6 inches

a small acrylic painting by Wiley Wallace of a dusky desert scene with a woman in the foreground with arms made of waves of blue energy that seem to feed into a form behind her — “Star Dust” (2026), acrylic on panel, 16 x 12 inches

a small acrylic painting by Wiley Wallace of a dusky desert scene with a skeleton in the foreground, holding a jar full of tiny dispersing lights — “Toward the Glow” (2026), acrylic on panel, 6 x 6 inches

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