Stephen Carter
In various ways from late 2019 my paintings refer to the possibility of reading a text - as if reading were opposed to looking.
The emphasis on horizontal brushstrokes leads to a vestigial echo to lines of text, where there is nothing left to read and probably there never was. Meanwhile the suspicion of something being blanked out, overlaid or redacted won’t go away.
My paintings are often done quickly, while resulting from lengthy periods of preparation and are followed by periods of reflection. I detect contradictory forces at play. On the one hand a push for simplicity, directness, an emphasis on the unique touch of the hand of the maker, an openness to the wayward behaviour of materials and processes; on the other hand always something sited outside the rarefied language of painting to become an explicit touchstone.
Each work comes complete with a date in pencil marking when the work was signed off. Cumulatively this suggests something like the temporal specificity of the diary.
Solo exhibitions
2024 ‘Overlays’, BL Foundation, London
2022 'Acqua di Primavera', Galleria GabaMC, Macerata, Italy
2016 'South Wharf Road East', Architecture Association, London
2015 'West End Quay West', Beardsmore Gallery, London
2012 - 'Reading Between The Lines', Dreamspace Gallery, London
2010 - 'Line of Vision', Beardsmore Gallery, London
2005 - 'WestWay', Beardsmore Gallery, London
2005 - 'WestWay', Galerija Beograd, Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro
2001 - 'Pleasures of the Press', Recent Paintings, Beardsmore Gallery, London
2000 - 'Encounters', Koninklijke Acadamie Gallerie,, Den Haag, Holland
1999 - 'Outer Edge Ghetto Buster', Kunsthalle Hennigsdorf, Berlin, Germany
1998 - 'Closer to Cloning', Beardsmore Gallery, London
1995 - 'Unit', Beardsmore Gallery, London
1994 - 'Archway', Concourse Gallery, London
1993 - 'Impression Paintings', ACAVA, Central Space, London
1992 - 'Painting', Concourse Gallery, London
1992 - 'The White Farm', Beardsmore Gallery, London
Group exhibitions
2024 - ‘Braids + Touches’, Officine Brandimarte, Ascoli Piceno, Italy
2023 - 'What Is That Background Noise?', Nulobaz Space For Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
2022- 'Many Rivers To Cross', Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London
2022- 'Continuum', Cello Factory, London
2021- 'I Dreamt I Woke Up', Central Space Gallery, London
2020- 'East & West', Fondazione Pescarabruzzo, Pescara, Italy
2019 -'Riverside at Riverside', Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London
2019 - 'East', ANRP, Rome, Italy
2019 -'Dividing Line', Central Space Gallery, London
2019 -Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
2019 -'Now Then', Crypt Gallery, Norwich
2018 - 'Wrexham Open 2018', Ty Pawb, Wrexham, Wales
2018 - 'In The City', Stephen Lawrence Gallery, Greenwich, London
2018 - 'In The City Painting', East Gallery, Norwich
2018 - Riverside Artists Group 2, Central Space Gallery, London
2017 - Jerwood Drawing Exhibition, Jerwood Space, London, East Gallery, Norwich + UK Tour
2015 - 'Life Between Buildings', Spinach, London
2015 - 'West', Griffin Art Gallery, London
2014 - 'Urban Landscape and Memory', Sala Chillida Bizkaia Aretoa, Bilbao, Spain
2014 - 'In The City', The Lion + Lamb, London
2014 - Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
2013 - 'Crivellis New Reading', Pinacoteca Civica, Monte San Martino, Italy.
2013 - 'In The Future - Crossings', Eesti Kunstiakadeemia Galerii, Tallinn, Estonia
2012 - 'Fusion', Institute of Physics, London
2012 - New Works, Riverside Studios , Hammersmith, London
2011 - Mostyn Open, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Wales
2011 - Salon Art Prize, Matt Roberts Foundation, London
2011 - 'Then and Now', Museo Municipale, Ourense, Spain
2010 - 'London Calling', Museo Ramon Ma Aller, Lalin, Galicia, Spain
2010 - ' Voices From London', Sunshine International Art Museum, Beijing, China
2010 - Works on Canvas, Riverside Studios , Hammersmith, London
2009 - 'Moss', Galeria Casa Matei Corvin, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2009 - 'Mosstoo', Lethaby Gallery, London
2008 - 'Moss', U.V.H. Gallery, Bilbao, Spain 2008
2008 - 'Set In Stone', PM Gallery & House, Ealing, London
2006 - 'Where Are You Now?', Kyungwon University Gallery, Seoul, S. Korea
2005 - London Art Fair, IBDC, Islington, London
2003 - Hunting Art Exhibition, RCA, London
2003 - London Art Fair, IBDC, Islington, London
2003 - 'Word Paintings', Noble Art, Cambridge
2002 -10 Years, Beardsmore Gallery, London
2000 - Exchange, Watts Tower Art Center & CSUN Art Gallery, California, USA
2000 - 'Stuckists & Others', Pure Gallery, London
1999 - Beardsmore Gallery, London
1999 - 'Homeless', Mota Gallery, London
1999 - Painting, Gallery 108, Hammersmith, London
1998 - '20 : 20', Kingsgate Gallery, London
1998 - Art 98, IBDC, London
1997 - Mind Games, Royal Festival Hall, London
1996 - New Labour, Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London
1996 - 'RAG', Museo Ourense, Galicia, Spain
1995 - Rag Show, Fulham Palace, London
1995 - Rear Window 'Pretext: Heteronyms', Clink Street, London
1994 - Rag Show, Small Mansion, London
1993 - 4 Artists, Eagle Gallery, London
1992 - Gallery Artists, Beardsmore Gallery, London
1990 - Group Show, Louise Hallett Gallery, London
1989 - Chicago Art Expo, Chicago, USA
1988 - Acava Artists, Central Space, London
1998 - Gallery Artists, Curwen Gallery, London
Competitions, prizes and awards
2005 - British Council Travel Award
2002 - AHRB Research Award (in collaboration with Rex Henry)
1997 - Visual Arts Award, Elephant Trust, London
Qualifications and training
1972 - Higher Diploma, Art And Design, Painting, Birmingham Polytechnic
1971 - BA Hons, Fine Art, Birmingham Polytechnic
1968 - Foundation, Canterbury College of Art