Carter – Janus Travestito

Affidando le sue generalità al nomignolo coniato negli anni delle scorribande in comitiva, l’artista già suggerisce i suoi orientamenti in materia d’arte: l’identità è infatti leitmotiv della sua ricerca, questa volta indagata mediante il protagonismo della testa, porzione anatomica che più d’ogni altra identifica la vita di un corpo, raccontandolo.

Comunicato stampa

[…] mutilato, incompleto, nemico a sé stesso
è l’uomo contemporaneo […]:
uno stato d’antica armonia è perduto,
a una nuova completezza si aspira
Italo Calvino

La galleria annarumma inaugura Venerdì 9 Marzo alle ore 19:00, la personale di Carter (1970; vive e lavora a New York), già noto ai pubblici d’arte americano ed europeo, ed ora per la prima volta in Italia.

Affidando le sue generalità al nomignolo coniato negli anni delle scorribande in comitiva, l’artista già suggerisce i suoi orientamenti in materia d’arte: l’identità è infatti leitmotiv della sua ricerca, questa volta indagata mediante il protagonismo della testa, porzione anatomica che più d’ogni altra identifica la vita di un corpo, raccontandolo.
Bifronti e ieratiche come le ataviche iconografie di Giano, Divum Deus del Pantheon italico e divinità propiziatrice degli inizi, oppure appena abbozzate come quelle di fautriana memoria: appellandosi alla tradizione – sia essa prossima o remota – le teste di Carter fluttuano in mucillagini di colore come brandelli di identità autentica, riuscendo a scoprirsi dietro i bianchi drappi cuciti sulle tele, simili a cieli copernicani squarciati da una verità che non ha più paura di mostrarsi.

È dunque ancora l’eterna lotta tra essere e dover essere il perno della riflessione dell'artista, tante volte combattuta tra le pagine dei grandi capolavori letterari, e che qui si connota invece di difficoltà palpabili perché attuali, di spunti derivanti da fobie della odierna transitorietà. Ma l’arte di Carter è risolutiva: con ironia e consapevolezza storica supera lo smarrimento esistenziale, offrendosi piuttosto come superficie da completare.

Così, riscattate tutte le apparenze del mondo dalla vertigine della precisione, restituito l’individuo alla sua natura più autentica, il sentimento che abbiamo dei fenomeni, la percezione – valore fondativo dell’opera d’arte – riscopre nuovamente l’importanza dello sguardo particolare, della pluralità come possibilità, sgombrando il campo da standardizzazioni e paralizzanti categorizzazioni di sorta.

Carter vive e lavora a New York. Tra le principali mostre personali e collettive ricordiamo: Erased James Franco, MoMa, New York; Tate Gallery, Londra (2009); Leg opens door/ 1963, galerie Yvon Lambert (2008); Peripheral Vision and Collective Body, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Bolzano (2008); Stasis/Front, Salon 94, New York (2007); 1972 GeorgKargl, Vienna (2007); USA Today – New American Art from the Saatchi Collection; Royal Accademy of Arts, Londra (2006); Day For Night, Withney Biennal (2006).

CARTER ( Born 1970, Norwich, CT. Lives and works in New York ).

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012 Janus Travestito, annarumma, Naples, Italy
2011 Throughout, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco
EJF, Georg Kargl, Vienna
Forthcoming, Marc Jancou, Geneva
2009 And Within Area Although, Salon 94 Freemans, New York
And, It, The, Constant, Although, Hotel Gallery, London
Erased James Franco :
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Tate Modern, London
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Castro Theater, San Francisco, CA
2008 Leg Opens Door/1963 (featuring the film Erased James Franco), Yvon Lambert, Paris

2007 Stasis/Front, Salon 94, New York, NY
Stasis/Front, The Project, New York, NY
1972, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna
Exactly 29 Days (32 Days), Medium, St. Barth – French West Indies
2006 Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Carter, Drawings and Polaroids, University of Illinois at Chicago, Gallery 400, Chicago, IL

2005 Prosopopoeia, HOTEL Gallery, London
White Room, White Columns, New York
2004 Carter, Drawings and Polaroids, Richard Dadd Gallery, St. Paul, MN
Before, During and After – Bulletin Board Project, CCA Wattis Institute San Francisco,CA
2000 Conversation Piece, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA

1999 Bring in the Actual Photo, Four Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1997 Carter, New Work, Four Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Introductions, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2010 Closing Show, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Knights Move, Sculpture Center, New York, NY
2009 Stars!, Salon 94 Freemans, New York, NY
Abstract America, The Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Especes D' Espaces, Yvon Lambert, New York
The Secret Life of Objects, Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis, MN
Time Based Art Festival, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
2008 In Geneva No One Can Hear You Scream, curated by Marc Jancou, Blondeau Fine Art Services, Geneva, Switzerland
Faces and Figures, Marc Jancou Contemporary, New York
Update, 2005-2008, White Columns, New York, NY
Comme Au Cinema, The Cinematic as Method and Metaphor, Fotogalleriet, Oslo, NO (featuring Erased James Franco)
Peripheral Vision and Collective Body, Museion, Bolzano Italy
2007 Swap: HOTEL Gallery, London at Galerie Guido W. Baudach, Galerie Guido Baudach,
Wrong Number, curated by Keegan McHargue, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2006 Whitney Biennial 2006: Day for Night, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
USA Today: New American Art from the Saatchi Collection, Royal Academy of Arts,
Dereconstruction, curated by Matthew Higgs, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY
Le Retour de la Colonne Durutti, Isabella Bortolozzi Gallery, Berlin
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
25 x 25, White Columns at Cereal Art, Philadelphia, PA
The Swan is Very Peaceful…, Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
Carter, Kate Davis, Karen Lofgren, Torbjorn Vejvi, Anna Helwing Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
25 Bold Moves, House of Campari, New York, NY

2005 Sticks and Stones, Perry Rubenstein, New York, NY
Bebe le Strange, D'Amelio Terras, New York, NY
Trade, curated by Matthew Higgs, White Columns, New York, NY
Self Formation, Art2102, Los Angeles, CA
2004 Rebus, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA

2002 Multiplicity, Midway Contemporary Art, St. Paul, MN
The Stray Show, Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis, MN
2001 Being There, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
Artist of the Month, April 2001, Artists Space Gallery, New York, NY
2000 Faculty 2000, Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, MD
The Future of the Body, Richmond Art Center, Oakland, CA
1998 All of Me, New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA
Deep Forest: When Urgency Becomes Form, Four Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA
AWARDS and RESIDENCIES

2005 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Award
Rema Hort Mann Foundation Award
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Artist Residency
AIR, Artist in Residence, East Hampton NewYork

1996 Humanities Graduate Research Award, University of California, Davis
Robert C. Arneson Graduate Fellowship Award

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

2009 Artforum, December 2009, "Carter, Salon 94 Freemans", Suzanne Hudson
Frieze, October 2009, "Carter, Salon 94 Freemans", Morgan Falconer
VMAN magazine, #15 Fall 2009, "Double-Third-Portrait", Carter and James Franco
Wall Street Journal, Interview with Carter, December 3rd, 2009, Cathy Yan
ArtReview magazine, Artists Portraits, December 2009
NY Daily News, Sept 16, 2009 Gatecrasher
Tank Volume 5 Issue 6, "Man On - Carter and James Franco redefine performance and rewrite the past, slowly", Christabel Stewart
ArtReview magazine, Issue 34, September 2009, "Feature, Carter", Mark Rappolt
Advocate, May 2009, "In a Word: Carter", Aaron Krach
Guardian, June 2009, Ben Walters
London Times
Artforum, April 2009, "Negative Thinking", Dennis Lim
Los Angeles Times, April 2009, "James Franco, avant-garde muse"
Flavorwire, April 2009
Frieze, April 2009, "Erased James Franco", Jennifer Krasinski
USAToday, April 2009
V Magazine, April 2009, "Eraserhead"
Movieline, "The Real Story (and the Mastermind) Behind James Franco's Soap Opera Career Move", by Kyle Buchanan, Nov. 2009
2008 Art World magazine, Carter, July 4, 2008, Morgan Falconer
Evening Standard, London October 17, 2008, 10 of the Best at Frieze, 2008, Ben Lewis
Telerama, (France) "Carter at Yvon Lambert"
idomenee, Issue 2, 2008 "Leg opens door/1963, Carter at Yvon Lambert"
2007 Frieze, September 2007, "Carter at Salon 94 and The Project, New York", Morgan Falconer
The New York Sun, April 6, "Forget Chelsea: Dealers Look Uptown" Art Around Town, Brook Mason
St. Barth Observer, "Exactly 29 Days (32 Days)" - Carter at Me.di.um Gallery
Saatchi Gallery September 7, 2007, "Carter photographs New York studio"
2006 Artforum, September, "Carter at Jack Hanley", Glen Helfand
Art on Paper, September, Glen Helfand
ArtReview magazine, April, "Debut: Carter at Hotel, London", Cedar Lewisohn
London Guardian Observer, January 1, "Introducing...", Alice Fisher
Frieze, Summer, "2006 Whitney Biennial", Peter Eleey
Mission Arts Monthly, June/July, "Carter at Jack Hanley Gallery"
San Francisco Chronicle, June 1, "Don't Miss"
2005 New York Post, July 23rd, "Bebe Le Strange", James Gardner
New York Times, July 8, "Fanciful to Figurative to Wryly Inscrutable", Holland Cotter
New York Times, May 6, "Making an Entrance at Any Age", Roberta Smith
New York Magazine, November, "Let's Play Dream House" (Jeanne Greenberg / Salon94), Wendy Goodman
Useless Magazine, Issue #2, "Interview with Carter", by Laird Borrelli
Tank Volume 4, Issue 2, "Carter and Jim Jocoy - White Columns", Matthew Higgs
The Village Voice, June 8, "Parting Glances", Pradeep Dalal
Gay City News, March, "Trade"
2002 New Art Examiner, June, "Multiplicity", Aaron Van Dyke
1999 Flash Art, September, "Bring In The Actual Photo", David Hunt
Citysearch, March, "Carter: Bring in the Actual Photo", Colin Berry
1998 Artweek, March, "When Urgency Becomes Form at Four Walls Gallery"
1997 San Francisco Chronicle, July, "Singular Colors with Rainbows of Meaning", Kenneth Baker
San Francisco Bay Guardian, July, "Hair Piece-Introductions at Gallery Paule Anglim"