Carter - Contemporary Artists

Untitled (with Abstract Paintings) 2007#5

The Saatchi Gallery
 

Carter

Untitled (with Abstract Paintings) 2007#5

2006
Acrylic, gel medium and paper on canvas

182.9 x 142.2 cm

Reducing the body into fragmented pieces, Carter explores the notion of unfixed identity. Making reference to the current obsession with plastic surgery and physical enhancement, Carter’s drawings offer abstraction as portraiture of choice. In Untitled (with Abstract Paintings) 2007 #5, Carter outlines a grouping of head-like shapes as blank canvases for viewer projection, accompanied by finely penned swatches of textures, painterly daubs of fleshy ‘skins’ and ‘Identikit’ doodles of eyes offering an ‘off the shelf’ array of figurative selection. Treating physiognomy as an alterable ‘costume’ with the potential to both conceal and reflect persona, Carter’s work contains an engagement with several moral and social issues, including media portrayal of body image, sexual closeting, and ethical questions arising from new cosmetic procedures.
 
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