Stairway, 2005, Courtesy of Keith Carter
Keith Carter was born in Wisconsin but grew up in Beaumont from the age of five, so we'll claim him as a native. The subject of much of his work focuses on the people and places of east Texas, where he holds the endowed Walles Chair of Art at Lamar University in Beaumont. His work is often described as dreamlike, drawing upon mythology, folklore and popular culture to capture "the poetry of the ordinary".
Carter's first book, From Uncertain to Blue, is a record of small town life in Texas. Artist Bill Wittliff describes the project in an essay from Texas Monthly Magazine:
On their tenth wedding anniversary Keith and Pat hatched the idea of traveling to a hundred small Texas towns - each with a catchy name - and making one, and only one, photograph in each. Most of the towns - towns with names like Earth and Splendora and Rising Star - were way out there in the middle of nowhere. There were no hotels, sometimes not even a hamburger joint or a public restroom - and there was no time ever to just sit around and wait for the best light. They'd hit town, find the picture Keith wanted to make, shoot it in whatever light was available, then go hightailing it on down the road to the next town.
Keith Carter, 2008
To learn more about Keith Carter, check out the McMurtrey Gallery, visit the artist's website, or watch this documentary on his work.
About Art League Houston:
Art League Houston is one of Houston's longest operating non-profit visual arts organizations and was the first alternative art space in Texas. Thier mission is "to cultivate awareness, appreciation, and accessibility of contemporary visual art within the community for its cultural enrichment".
Photo of Keith Carter courtesy of Steve Hopson
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