She Has Arrived 2021

Carrie Graber’s ‘She Has Arrived’ is a painting of a moment, and maybe that moment is just before the next moment is about to happen! Look at the way she captures the light hitting that pink Cadillac. It's so smooth, you can almost feel the sun on your skin. Graber is really playing with hyperrealism here, but it's not just about copying what she sees. I'm wondering what it was like for her to create this scene, what she might have been thinking as she blended those pastel colors and rendered the texture of the car's upholstery? It’s really a painting about painting! I think that all painting is a kind of embodied expression, a way of thinking through the world. Graber is in conversation with other artists and other paintings across time, which is maybe the best part about being a painter, ever.