The artist cites his choice of hip-hop as a model for his work, identifying it as “one of the few multiracial, multigenerational contingencies that we have.” Carter seeks to push discourse on his work past that of a black artist making art about politics, and towards one that acknowledges the integrated visual culture in which we are all participating.
Generously funded in part by a grant from the Wicker Park Bucktown SSA #33, the on the wall series is a rotation of projects on the gallery’s 10 x 25 foot wall viewed from Division Street through floor to ceiling windows. Designed to engage the community and challenge the white cube notion of “viewing,” the series features site-specific projects in a wide range of media made by an equally diverse group of artists. The gallery works to bring new work to Chicago and views this series as an opportunity to work with an exciting group of artists new to the gallery. Since inception, the on the wall series has featured the work of Brazilian collaborative assume vivid astro focus, American artists Kay Rosen, Kerry James Marshall, and Abigail DeVille, amongst others.
Kendell Carter (American, born New Orleans 1970, lives Long Beach, CA) has an MFA from California State University in Long Beach, an Environmental Design BA from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and a BFA from the Atlanta College of Art. He is currently in MetaModern, a traveling group exhibition curated by Ginger Gregg Duggan and Judith Hoos Fox that originated at the Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL (2015, catalogue). MetaModern is currently on view at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ (through August 2015), and travels through 2017 to multiple venues including the Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL; DeVos Art Museum, Marquette, MI; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH; and Palm Springs Art Museum, CA. Recent solo exhibitions include Expanding on an expansive subject, Part 6: Kendell Carter, Constructs, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA (2015); WE, with Darren Hostetter, University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL (2012 catalogue); Cross Currents, curated by Jennifer Sargent, Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN (2012); It is what it is but it isn’t, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA (2010); the Laguna Art Museum, Hammer Projects, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2006). His work has been reviewed in Art in America, ArtForum.com, Los Angeles Times, BLOUIN ARTINFO, Flavorpill and Time Out Chicago, among other publications. His work is in the Sindinka Okola Collection, Angola; Laguna Art Museum, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, CA; and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA.
