Angie Crabtree: Garden of Eve
Angie Crabtree’s paintings dissect the mythology of luxury. Diamonds became her first muse—the commodification of nature, the way raw beauty is captured, fixed, and displayed as proof of success. Their natural forms once buried deep beneath the earth, now mined, cut, and polished into representations of what’s impossibly valuable. By enlarging them to monumental scale she invites viewers to consider the origins of the stones, their societal significance and reconsider their true value.
From diamonds to desire, Crabtree debuts her latest series of paintings Garden of Eve. Her new body of work critiques power structures and gender roles embedded into luxury culture. Wealth has historically been built on systems of colonization and exploitation—woven deep into the histories of gemstones and fashion. Crabtree explores femininity and how these legacies continue to shape contemporary ideals of beauty and status. She references Eve and the Garden as metaphors for innocence lost to material temptation—recasting Eve not as the origin of shame, but as the first to question the cost of desire.
Angie Crabtree (b. 1987) is a painter from Santa Rosa, California, graduated with her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and currently lives and works in Long Beach, California. Her paintings draw from the visual languages of Baroque and Rococo portraiture, fused with symbols of modern aspirations—from designer accessories to rare plants. By enlarging gemstones and still lifes to an almost spiritual scale, Crabtree invites viewers to reflect on the illusion of perfection and the psychological cost of opulence.
AngieCrabtree.com