Kendell Carter, 1970
Hometown: New Orleans, LA, Lives and Works: Long Beach, CA
Effigy for a New Normalcy III (detail), 2014
About The Artist
Drip Painting, 2008.
Ottoman, 2013.
Kendell Carter’s of-the-moment artistic practice, in which he fuses art history with street culture, is not merely a meeting of high and low art. Rather his mixing of objects, materials, and design traditions—ranging from name-brand clothing and graffiti sculptures to toile designs and bronze-plated Timberland boots—channels a world in which social distinctions cease to exist. His work therefore functions as a catalyst for dialogue about issues of race, consumerism, art, design, utility, and architecture. His immersive installations perhaps most effectively provoke such conversations. Inspired by the work of Robert Irwin and Ilya Kabakov, Carter adopted a similar viewpoint of “art as experience,” as he seeks to explore “alternate conditions” through elaborately staged, somewhat disorienting installations that encompass both familiar and foreign objects.
Untitled Relationships, 2012.
WEave Painting, 2012.
Running throughout Carter’s work is a clear hip-hop theme, which acts as a sort of metaphor for his process and conceptual stance. He explains: “The work isn’t necessarily about hip-hop, but it’s absolutely a model because it references how we all exist in the world. You’re not one thing, you sample this and it becomes a part of your life, you sample that and that becomes a part of your life. So, for me, hip-hop as a model is pivotal to how I construct things, how I develop something and create a foundation rhythm, and then sample other melodies and make it work within the whole construct of the installation.” (text website ArtSpace, courtesy: Gallery Monique Meloche Chicago)