The Palm Springs Spa 2014

Carrie Graber, who was born in 1975, painted The Palm Springs Spa. There are these very smooth, careful tonal shifts, and that kind of golden ochre light that just throws you into a very specific place. It's so studied, and the artist wants you to know this too. I can imagine Carrie thinking of Hockney and all the California painters before her. It’s like she’s saying, “I see you, you see me, we all see each other.” When I look closely, I can see how the paint has been applied so thinly, with soft edges and these transparent layers that give the work a real warmth. This is a painting that knows its history but, in the end, does its own thing.