Portrait, 2019/2020, Colored thread, glow-in-the-dark thread, paper, acrylic, ink, fabric on canvas, 32 x 22 in.
Portrait, 2019/2020, Colored thread, glow-in-the-dark thread, paper, acrylic, ink, fabric on canvas, 32 x 22 in.


1275 Minnesota St / Anglim Gilbert Gallery

Opening reception: Saturday, February 15th | 4pm–7pm

Anglim Gilbert Gallery is pleased to present Didn’t We Almost Have It All, a solo exhibition of mixed media works by Carter (b. 1970).

Carter’s works on canvas form vibrant patchworks of personal symbolism. Informed by a decades-long interest in the tropes of traditional portraiture, Carter punctuates his multitextural pieces with facial expressions divorced from the physical body. Twisted, lolling tongues hang from acid colored mouths, coupled with piercing sets of mismatched eyes. The effect is a visceral sensation that bridges the fine line between pleasure and repulsion.

His hallucinatory palette is tempered by the incorporation of coffee-stained terrycloth, glossy tea towels, doilies, appliqués, and other needlepoint embellishments. Familiar domestic materials, often verging on the feminine, are a nod to Carter’s critical interest in suburban Americana. In certain images, faceless nudes and tract homes are tucked into the composition, alluding to the social and cultural weight of narrowly-defined gender ascriptions.

Carter received his MFA from the University of California, Davis (1997) and his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore (1992). His work has been included in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate Modern, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. He wrote and directed the 2012 film Maladies, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2013.