While Grace Weaver's early work mostly presented young female protagonists in quiet
introspection in intimate settings in the paintings of her 2020 exhibition STEPS she
substantially raises the emotional stakes. Inspired by Frank O'Hara's poem A Step Away from
Them (1964) she daringly explores discomfort insecurity estrangement and embarrassment from
one's own body right in the bustling open of the city streets. With her maximalist use of an
almost Fauvist palette as Susan Thompson states Weaver unfolds a spectacular theater of
public life. Trying in vain to keep up appearances her figures uneasily rush along stumble
fall and downright weep. Though previously considered an individual struggle during the
pandemic anxiety became a universal reality. That's what it is to be human Weaver contemplates
that struggle to stand upright.
