There’s something disarming about seeing a diamond the size of a canvas. Angie Crabtree doesn’t just paint them—she magnifies them until they feel like portals. For years, these gemstones have been her muse, not for their sparkle, but for what they represent. Luxury. Power. Desire. A beauty pulled from deep within the earth, shaped by human hands, then sold back to us as symbols of worth.
Her paintings ask us to pause. To really look. Where did these stones come from? Who decides their value? What’s the cost of what we’ve been taught to crave?
In her newest body of work, Eve and Her Sacred Garden, Crabtree digs even deeper—into history, gender, and the legacies that luxury leaves behind. Through a lens that’s equal parts myth and critique, she reimagines the biblical Eve. Not as the source of shame, but as the first woman who questioned the price of temptation. The Garden becomes a metaphor. So does the jewel.
This isn’t just about diamonds anymore. Crabtree’s work holds up a mirror to the systems that have long defined beauty, especially for women. Colonialism, class, the shape-shifting weight of femininity—all woven into the glittering language of fashion and wealth.
It’s personal, too. These paintings are lush, but they’re also sharp. Her still lifes feel sacred, like relics from a world that’s always just out of reach. You get the sense that Crabtree isn’t trying to tell you what to think—she’s just asking you to look closer. And keep looking.
Crabtree grew up in Santa Rosa, California, and studied at the San Francisco Art Institute. Her style blends the elegance of Baroque and Rococo portraiture with the iconography of today: rare plants, high fashion, social media gloss. She’s lived in Long Beach since 2014, and this exhibition at LBMA Downtown feels like a homecoming of sorts. A chance to see her largest ideas come to life, right here in the neighborhood she calls home.
If you’ve ever held a diamond up to the light and wondered what it really meant—this show is for you.
Exhibition Details:
Angie Crabtree: Garden of Eve
LBMA Downtown | 356 E. 3rd St, Long Beach, CA
July 12 – September 28, 2025
More Info: LBMA.org
