Enhanced Memories

Throughout her three-decade career artist, Carrie Pearce has become recognized for painting odd objects or out-of-the-ordinary scenarios that have a touch of whimsy and sentimentality.

- CARRIE PEARCE

This series of paintings has defined narratives and off-kilter compositions, such as Rococo, a portrait in a traditional style but features cats and girls walking on stilts. Girl Stuff, another of these paintings, is filled with toys and other items on the sitter’s dress.

Pearce has taken a different turn in her most recent grouping of works, where her technical abilities are on full display. Focusing on Midwestern life, these paintings are more internal and more grounded in realism. It is storytelling that is quieter, but reflective of the mood and atmosphere that surrounded Pearce the past year.

“When COVID started, I honestly completely lost my sense of humor and that was just really a life-changing moment for me,” Pearce says. “Just to realize that you’re completely wiped out, you can’t work, you can’t go sell, the galleries can’t be open, it was mind-blowing and knowing that it could happen so quickly [was eyeopening]. I found it difficult to paint humorous things. I started reflecting on what I am going to do with the rest of my life. Am I always going to paint this quirky pop surrealist stuff? I still do, and I like pop surrealism, but it’s not all of my work anymore.”