# Emily Xie

> New York generative artist whose code draws on textiles, collage and East Asian art, known for Memories of Qilin on Art Blocks.

- Page: https://www.gondi.xyz/artist/emily-xie
- Works on GONDI: 1,271
- Collectors: 674
- About page: https://www.gondi.xyz/artist/emily-xie/about

## About

Emily Xie makes generative art in New York, coding mostly in JavaScript with p5.js. The patterns and textures in her images come from the code itself, and the results often look like paper collage, quilting or woodblock printing. Myth and folklore are recurring subjects.

Xie studied art history at Harvard and later earned a master's there in computational science and engineering. Daniel Shiffman's *Coding Train* videos got her started with generative art around 2015, while she was working as a software engineer. In 2016 she took a programmer's sabbatical at the Recurse Center and a residency at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. Her first NFT series, *Morphology*, came out on EthBlock.art in 2021.

[*Memories of Qilin*](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/memories-of-qilin-by-emily-xie.md) came out on Art Blocks Curated in March 2022. Its 1,024 works draw on ukiyo-e prints, Chinese brushwork and the qilin, a mythical beast of good fortune. In 2022 she also left engineering to make art full time, and released [*Off Script*](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/off-script-by-emily-xie.md), 100 code-made collages, with Bright Moments in London. [*Interwoven*](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/interwoven-by-emily-xie-lacma.md) (2023), with LACMA and Cactoid Labs, is 100 works inspired by Martha Lou Jones's 1896 *Bullseye* quilt in the museum's collection. Later work adds generative AI, hand drawing and craft. [*Guardian Lion*](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/guardian-lion-by-emily-xie.md) (2024), with Avant Arte, mixes code with free-hand drawing, and [*Material Histories*](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/material-histories-by-emily-xie.md) (2024) is embroidered by hand from AI-assisted designs.

Institutional shows include *DYOR* at Kunsthalle Zürich (2022), *Notes from the Ether* at Singapore's ArtScience Museum (2023) and *Infinite Images: The Art of Algorithms* at the Toledo Museum of Art (2025). *Memories of Qilin* was a 2024 Lumen Prize finalist, and the Museum of Art + Light in Manhattan, Kansas, holds [*Memories of Qilin #453*](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/memories-of-qilin-by-emily-xie/282000453.md). In 2025 she was Digital Artist in Residence at the Toledo Museum of Art and began working in glass there.

## At a glance

- Practice: Generative code and digital collage
- In museums: Museum of Art + Light
- Based in: New York, NY
- Active since: 2016
- Platforms: Art Blocks, Bright Moments, Avant Arte, Highlight
- Education: Harvard College, AB in History of Art and Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, SM in Computational Science and Engineering

## Notable works

- 2022: [Memories of Qilin](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/memories-of-qilin-by-emily-xie.md), Art Blocks Curated
- 2023: [Interwoven](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/interwoven-by-emily-xie-lacma.md), LACMA and Cactoid Labs
- 2023: [Crescent Blue](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/artworks-by-emily-xie/4.md), Phillips, Hong Kong
- 2022: [Off Script](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/off-script-by-emily-xie.md), Bright Moments, London

## In museum collections

- 2024: [Memories of Qilin #453](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/memories-of-qilin-by-emily-xie/282000453.md), Museum of Art + Light, Manhattan, KS

## Top sales

- 2022: [Memories of Qilin #191](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/memories-of-qilin-by-emily-xie/282000191.md), 55.55 ETH ($91,358)
- 2022: [Memories of Qilin #442](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/memories-of-qilin-by-emily-xie/282000442.md), 40 WETH ($65,784)
- 2022: [Memories of Qilin #521](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/memories-of-qilin-by-emily-xie/282000521.md), 33.8 ETH ($55,588)
- 2025: [Flowers in Bloom](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/artworks-by-emily-xie/2.md), GONDI, 21 ETH ($54,947)
- 2023: [Memories of Qilin #882](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/memories-of-qilin-by-emily-xie/282000882.md), 9.9 ETH ($20,326)
- 2024: [Memories of Qilin #168](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/memories-of-qilin-by-emily-xie/282000168.md), 5 ETH ($17,128)

## Exhibitions

- 2026: [Code Chronicles V.2](https://www.bitforms.art/exhibition/code-chronicles-v-2), Bitforms Gallery, New York
- 2025: [Digital Artists in Residence, two-person show with Dan Hernandez](https://toledomuseum.org/exhibitions/dair-2025), Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
- 2025: [Infinite Images: The Art of Algorithms](https://infiniteimages.toledomuseum.org/artist/emily-xie), Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
- 2024: [Material Histories](https://emilyxie.art/about), Untitled Art, Miami Beach, FL
- 2024-2025: [Code & Canvas](https://emilyxie.art/about), Museum of Art + Light, Manhattan, KS
- 2024: [Bright Moments Finale](https://emilyxie.art/projects/bright_moments_finale_submission), Bright Moments, Venice
- 2023: [Notes from the Ether](https://sgmagazine.com/things-to-do/explore-the-world-of-nfts-and-ai-at-artscience-museums-notes-from-the-ether-exhibition/), ArtScience Museum, Singapore
- 2023: [Remembrance of Things Future, Stark Bar outdoor screens](https://unframed.lacma.org/2023/06/06/remembrance-things-future-conversation-emily-xie-artist-experimenting-blockchain), LACMA, Los Angeles
- 2022: [DYOR](https://www.kunsthallezurich.ch/en/ausstellungen/6965-dyor/), Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich
- 2022: [In Our Code](https://unitlondon.com/exhibitions/in-our-code-group-exhibition/), Unit London, London
- 2022: [Assemblage, with Cortesi Gallery](https://emilyxie.art/projects/assemblage), The Armory Show, New York
- 2022: [Solo show: Off Script](https://emilyxie.art/about), Bright Moments, London

## Recognition

- 2025: [Digital Artist in Residence](https://news.utoledo.edu/index.php/04_22_2025/faculty-painter-explores-digital-artwork-through-toledo-museum-of-art-residency), Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
- 2025: [Digital Art Awards finalist](https://emilyxie.art/about), HOFA x Phillips
- 2024: [Lumen Prize Still Image Award finalist, Memories of Qilin](https://lumenprize.org/still-image-award-2024/emily-xie-memories), Lumen Prize
- 2016: [Artist in Residence, Technology](https://emilyxie.art/about), Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY
- 2016: [Grant for a programmer's sabbatical](https://emilyxie.art/about), Recurse Center, New York

## Collaborations

- 2025: [Static Trace, an edition of 100 commissioned through Onchain Voices](https://emilyxie.art/projects/static_trace), a16z crypto
- 2024: [COMBAT MODE, an open edition with Highlight for Onchain Summer](https://www.bankless.com/read/eths-best-onchain-art), Base
- 2024: [Doves in Flight, commissioned for the UN Trailblazer Award](https://emilyxie.art/projects/doves_in_flight), United Nations, New York
- 2023: [Remembrance of Things Future, with Cactoid Labs](https://unframed.lacma.org/2023/06/06/remembrance-things-future-conversation-emily-xie-artist-experimenting-blockchain), LACMA, Los Angeles
- 2019: [Installation for the Sundae School show at New York Fashion Week](https://emilyxie.art/about), Sundae School, New York

## Press & resources

- 2025: [Inside the labs where artists rewrite tech's future](https://www.artbasel.com/stories/tech-labs-artists-rewrite-future-cern-bell-labs-tma?lang=en), Art Basel
- 2025: [Generative Art's Deep Roots Come to Light in a New Museum Show](https://news.artnet.com/art-world/infinite-images-algorithmic-art-toledo-museum-2668637), Artnet News
- 2024: [Emily Xie on Textile as Personal Canvas](https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/emily-xie-on-textile-as-personal-canvas), Le Random
- 2024: [Emily Xie: Plastic code](https://avantarte.com/insights/avant-essay/emily-xie-notes-on-creation), Avant Arte
- 2023: [Generative Artist Emily Xie Has Created a Series of 100 NFTs Based on a 100-Year-Old Quilt in LACMA's Collection](https://news.artnet.com/market/emily-xie-interwoven-lacma-cactoid-labs-2317667), Artnet News
- 2023: [Remembrance of Things Future: A Conversation with Emily Xie, Artist Experimenting on the Blockchain](https://unframed.lacma.org/2023/06/06/remembrance-things-future-conversation-emily-xie-artist-experimenting-blockchain), LACMA Unframed
- 2023: [Creating 'organic' generative art from robotic algorithms: Emily Xie, NFT Creator](https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/creating-organic-generative-art-from-robotic-algorithims-emily-xie-nft-creator/), Cointelegraph Magazine

## Milestones

- 2022: [Leaves software engineering to make art full time](https://news.artnet.com/market/emily-xie-interwoven-lacma-cactoid-labs-2317667)
- 2023: [Guest curator of Evolving Pixels for PROOF Curated and Art Blocks](https://www.rightclicksave.com/article/proof-of-pixels), Venus Over Manhattan, New York
- 2024: [Memories of Qilin #694 picked by guest curator Karlie Kloss for Sotheby's Contemporary Curated](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/memories-of-qilin-by-emily-xie/282000694.md), Sotheby's, New York
- 2024: [Featured in TASCHEN's ON NFTs, edited by Robert Alice](https://www.taschen.com/en/limited-editions/art/60080/on-nfts-collector-s-edition/), TASCHEN

## Links

- [emilyxie.art](https://emilyxie.art)
- [X](https://x.com/emilyxxie)
- [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/emilyxie_art/)
- [emilyxie.art/about](https://emilyxie.art/about)

Data from GONDI (https://www.gondi.xyz), Oct 28, 2026.