My paintings call upon heightened experiences of nature, perceptions of beauty, and modern day social constitutions. Each individual portrait displays what can be described as a Darwinian manifestation of embellishment and performance. Together these portraits draw attention to the universal driving forces behind the character, impulses, and charades of living beings. Many of the non-human subjects in my portraits are chosen for their grandiose posture, unusually evolved appearance, and the way these attributes mimic those of their human counterparts. The paint handling in these portraits occupies a space between photography and painting to emphasize the blur between what is real and what is perceived. Ultimately, these paintings fall under the influence of the curiosities, affections and melodramas as we know them here on earth.
"...Cartier's most recent series of paintings can be described as a collective dystopia secured within a cocoon of scientific intrigue. Her pursuits in depicting such an environment are indirectly tied to her interests in Kafka's homological tropes and literary exploration of the weak human condition and toward theories of evolution that emphasize how the progress of nature has yet to be harnessed by man. "
From the essay for Wide-Eyed Garden, curated by Adam Justice