LOS ANGELES, CA.- Edward Cella Art & Architecture presents Kendell Carter: Marvel, an exhibition of cast paintings, sculpture, installation, and guided meditation by Kendell Carter. Carter's sustained commitment to observing and exploring race, gender, history, and consumer culture manifests in a studio practice that pushes beyond that of a black artist making art about politics, and towards one that acknowledges the rapidly integrating nature of today's visual culture.
Marvel will present site-specific installations of new works. One installation, entitled Cranes for Solange includes an authentic restroom sign from the "Jim Crow era" of American history. Pairs of used white jeans are suspended from inverted shelf brackets, each pair locked with the simple combination lock code "sick," and a lightbox mirrors the restroom sign. Another installation will include a gold-plated sewing machine on a custom marble plinth, a 19th century quilt found in Alabama, and a pile of used garments. A massive wall installation will be comprised of a new series of cast paintings which act as visual manifestations of Carter's meditative process. These works inherit the subtle impressions of the ground they were poured on, as well as intricate, organic textures in the aerosol of Carter's iconic "LOVE" graffiti. Carter's masterfully orchestrated installations connect scale, form, texture, and surface with contemporary socio-cultural realities and historically rooted gestures.
The gallery floor will feature a large cast latex sculpture which will serve as a mat for a series of meditations on the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, and weakening protections for the LGBT community of North Carolina. These meditations will be guided by licensed practitioners T. Dorje Immanuel, Andrea Yarbrough-Morris, and Mackala Lacy. The public is invited to participate in these guided meditations on March 25, 2017 at 2pm.
A gallery conversation with Kendell Carter and curator Dr. Jill Moniz will take place on April 8, 2017 at 4pm. Dr. Moniz has worked on engagement programs at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California and is the former Head Curator at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park in Los Angeles. From 2009-2012 she was curator for the Dr. and Mrs. Leon O. Banks Collection of Contemporary Art, and is a founder of Transformative Arts which leads initiatives around Los Angeles.
Kendell Carter was trained as a sculptor and as an environmental designer and holds a BFA from The Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, GA, and a BA in Environmental Design from Art Center College of Design. He received his MFA from California State University, Long Beach.
Carter's multidisciplinary practice that includes painting, sculpture, installation, performance, and design bridges the gap between art and life. His environments explore where and how parallel traditions in culture can be utilized for artistic and social revolutions.
Carter has had solo exhibitions at the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Edward Cella Art & Architecture, Los Angeles, CA; Monique Meloche, Chicago, IL; The Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA; Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA and Mark Moore Gallery, Culver City, CA. Group exhibitions include the California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Krannert Art Museum, Champagne, IL; Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA and Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA. In 2012 he received a Andy Warhol Foundation Fellowship and his work is included in such public collections as Fundacao Sindika Dokolo, Luanda, Angola; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA.
