Carl Grauer

Carl Grauer (he/they) is an artist, painter, and teacher. Grauer works within the genres of realism, impressionism, surrealism, and narrative art. They have an intense interest in portraiture, the figure, queer history, time, the natural world, ritualism, mortality, and the spiritual realm. Born in rural Kansas, Grauer completed their bachelor’s degree in Human Biology from the University of Kansas and their MFA in Medical Illustration from the University of Michigan. They spent two years in London studying figurative and portrait painting with several studios and garnered success showing work both nationally and internationally, most notably in Hudson Valley Artists 2025: Movement at the Samuel Dorsky Museum, the Wells Art Contemporary Award in the UK, and exhibitions with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in London. Grauer has also participated in the Constance Saltonstall Artist Residency, Jentel Artist Residency, and the Blue Mountain Artist Residency. Currently, they are living and working in Poughkeepsie, New York, and showing with several galleries nationally, including Carrie Haddad in Hudson, New York.


Artist Statement

I am fascinated by death and the afterlife. Emotional thresholds, symbolic encounters in nature, and connections beyond the physical realm have all informed this new series of work, Natural Thresholds. I commemorate the journey from sorrow to solace and the celebratory moments where grief transforms into hope.

The paintings in Natural Thresholds, framed by circular portals and painted in oil, elicit movement between liminal spaces, between shadow and light, and between the physical and the spiritual. By reframing the mythology of mortality and its transformation, I seek to restore a connection by merging the tactile into the celestial. With paintings of objects as humble as a small feather found on a walk or views as vast as a star-scape, the connection between the natural and the spiritual worlds are simultaneously held together when they are diametrically opposed. Reflecting upon this universal longing for harmony, I am reminded of loved ones by all these fleeting moments of beauty.

Natural Thresholds explores the interplay between loss and discovery, reminding us that some losses can lead to a greater purpose. This series celebrates the emotional landscapes we navigate in search of meaning and connection, a path where compassion may be found as we move from one shadow to the next and into the light.

These are days
These are the days you might fill with laughter until you break
These days you might feel a shaft of light
Make its way across your face
And when you do you’ll know how it was
See the signs and know their meaning
It’s true
You’ll know how it was meant to be
Hear the signs and know they’re speaking to you, to you
-10,000 Maniacs


www.carlgrauer.com