Carmen Herrera, born in Cuba in 1915, is “very possibly the oldest contemporary artist working today,” according to art auction house Christie’s. Although she has worked continuously for the past 70 years, she only attained commercial success in the early 2000s. Now, as she celebrates her 99th birthday, she relishes her status as the “hot new thing” on the art scene. Lively, funny, and fiercely committed to her art, Herrera works every day on her hard-edge, geometric, primary-colored canvasses. All the while, she recalls her youth in Cuba, her coming of age in Europe, and her battle for recognition in the male-dominated art world of 1950s New York. When asked about the meaning of her paintings, she says, “If I could put those things into words, I wouldn’t do the paintings; I would tell you. You cannot talk about art. You have to art about art.”  AT