Chit Chats at the Abernathy Residence 2018

Curator: This is "Chit Chats at the Abernathy Residence," a 2018 painting by Carrie Graber. Editor: Immediately, the light hits me. It's almost oppressively bright, bleached out. A hyperreal sunshine. Curator: The artist works primarily with oil paints using an impasto technique. We're invited into a carefully constructed tableau that begs us to look closer at its elements and meanings. There's a lot happening socially here beneath the surface. Editor: The elephant sculpture, that vibrant orange scarf – there's a juxtaposition of eastern symbolism with... almost a fetishization of wealth. What statements is she making? Are there other recurring symbolic forms in Graber's work? Curator: The elephant appears repeatedly in her art, reflecting power and memory while challenging narratives around cultural appropriation and colonialism. Her figuration here almost exists on a knife's edge. What appears as innocent sun-drenched leisure begins to unveil as an active social and political engagement with wealth and status. Editor: That interplay between luxury and something... slightly sinister? Like the smiles in Old Master paintings. It feels calculated, definitely unsettling. It challenges assumptions, it's deliberately provocative with recurring emblems such as animals, palm trees and high end fashion that can represent certain historical trends and issues. Curator: Right. The location itself – "The Abernathy Residence" - conjures ideas of specific social settings of Southern California wealth, even. Editor: And she chooses to depict the *backs* of figures here. She's withholding intimacy, even denying us access to true portraiture. That creates even further psychological distance in this Palm Springs vision, as if these people are curated, not spontaneous. Curator: Indeed. By turning her figures away, we're placed into the active gaze ourselves. Who are we, the viewer, as active witnesses in the setting of excess and what does it reveal of our own values, desires, and complicities? Editor: A disquieting glimpse into a carefully maintained facade. What at first feels like simple scenery morphs into questions about influence. Curator: Graber does an excellent job of holding that tension, and that's where I think she successfully makes her statements about contemporary society. Editor: A bright picture that stays with you, sparking uncomfortable, necessary conversations.