John Carter at 80
John Carter
John Carter's studio, London
John Carter at 80 Selected Works
1 March – 2 April 2022
Seeing and knowing; situating the work of John Carter Andrew Wilson
In 1966, writing in the catalogue to the third New
medium-specific categories of painting and sculpture.
Generation exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery,
The opening line of Donald Judd’s ‘Specific Objects’
the critic Robert Hughes identified an aspect of John
essay, published in 1965, was characteristic of such
Carter’s work that has since become an oft-repeated
thinking. In the essay, he identifies the moves being
hook for critics, as much as a question for the artist to
made towards what became known as minimal sculpture,
answer. Hughes suggested that Carter’s work ‘occupies
and states quite directly how ‘half or more of the best
a half-way point between painting and sculpture’.1
new work in the last few years has been neither painting
William Packer, writing five years later, at the time of
nor sculpture’.5 For Judd, the specific objects he was
Carter’s second solo exhibition at the Redfern Gallery,
concerned with had a ‘wholeness’ and were without
held that ‘the objects which he so carefully makes like
apparent composition, were non-pictorial and so also
a sculptor, he uses as a painter. His is the illusion of
anti-illusionistic. They occupied and were made from
perspective, not the real thing. The events he talks about
‘real space’ – the three-dimensional ‘actual space is
are pictorial, not actual, though they are real enough.’2 In
intrinsically more powerful and more specific than paint
1990, John Carter answered this observation (as he had
on a flat surface’.6 The work of Judd – as much as that of
before and since) by admitting straightforwardly that
Robert Mangold or, in different ways, Sol LeWitt – exerted
‘it is characteristic of my work that a dialogue between
a degree of influence on Carter by the end of the 1970s,
painting and sculpture takes place.’ He describes his
but, even so, he cannot be considered a minimalist in
work as being mostly made up of ‘wall objects’: ‘these
the way Judd describes, however much a questioning of
“objects” usually possess some of the characteristics
the value of medium specificity – painting or sculpture –
of painting eg: flatness, divided surface areas and
might be held in common.
sometimes colour, but they will also have sculptural qualities: physical bulk and contours which are often non-rectangular.’3 A few years later, he half-jokingly described his work as ‘flat objects which are neither painting nor sculpture – two and a half dimensions!’4 Through his work Carter was questioning the attributes of painting or sculpture – not to create a hybrid art-object but instead with the ambition to create a new type of art.
The key observable divergence with Judd’s position in the mid 1960s is Carter’s focus on pictorial qualities within the formulation of his wall objects, so that the communication of illusion provides one narrative for the work. Inscribed within the composition of a work like Lever Painting 1966 (Arts Council Collection) is a potential for movement. It is not just that the fact of the incorporation of a hinge makes the implied movement
By the mid-1960s many artists in Europe and America
practically possible. The top and bottom parts of the
were challenging the inbred significance afforded to the
panel are kept apart by a wedge shape – the segmented
4
Maquette for Lever Painting 1965/66 P.V.A. on panel with hinge 58 × 108 cm
elongated triangles above and below the divide would, if
cord aligns with the white spaces between the distorted
the wedge shape was absent and the panel was ‘closed’,
blue bars, so bringing the flat abstract composition alive
describe instead elongated oblongs. This capacity for
as it communicates the illusion of a three-dimensional
one geometrical figure to become another through the
space. This feeling of the viewer physically inhabiting
suggestion of composition and the projection of that
space in order to properly perceive the work within that
composition’s implications by the viewer is far from
space is one key aspect of experiencing the realities
the minimalism of Judd. It also points to a key area that
of minimal art – the fact and non-compositional nature
Carter has successfully and consistently continued to
of the work is best recognised and understood not by
mine, located between the material facts of the work
‘looking at’ but rather by ‘being with’ and ‘thinking into’.
and how the work is experienced by the viewer – an
The result of ‘being with’ Carter’s Sight-Line, or works
experience that often plays against or complicates what
that play with perception of circles as ellipses (and vice
the viewer may know about those material facts. Since
versa) that occupied him through much of the 70s relies
the late 70s, similar juxtapositions or superimpositions
on pictorial composition and the triggering of illusion,
of geometrical figures, staged as objects, have formed a
rather than a minimalist fact and lack of any articulation
consistent basis for his work.
of composition. Nevertheless, throughout his career,
The action of perception came to assume a central concern for Carter through the 1970s, developing from works like Corner and Sight-Line, both made in 1972. These two works in simple terms present the mechanics
Carter has always been concerned with how each work might stage and present the idea it encapsulates to the viewer – how the work might unfold itself before the inquiring eye and mind.
of perspective and the relationship of vanishing point
Stepping back, Carter’s emergence in the mid 1960s
to a changing viewing position. Such a description risks
and his inclusion in the third New Generation exhibition
suggesting that these works have an overly didactic
in 1966 placed him within a particular mindset that
intention, as opposed to the experience of wonder that
identified radical recent shifts in painting and especially
they actually deliver from such spare articulation of
sculpture in Britain, and also how this played out
materials. A portion of a long horizontal white panel (in
internationally. In sculpture these shifts revolved around
Corner this is shaped to occupy the corner of a room)
the use of new materials such as fibreglass, and went
is painted with diagonal bars of blue, each of which
hand-in-hand with a new approach to making that was
appears at first to be distorted. In front of the panel
closer to constructing, assembling or fabricating than
and stretched diagonally across it is a nylon cord. The
to traditional approaches – and with this change the
viewer, moving around the work experiences how the
character of the sculptures changed too. They became
5
Sight-Line 1972 Acrylic on cotton duck with painted steel and cord 176 × 400 × 122 cm
more object-like and declarative, more rooted in an urban
two halves held apart by a triangle.’8 His description here
mindset, less depictive and more obviously autonomous
of Lever Painting concentrates on what has happened
in intention. These moves were also complemented by an
to create the composition – a compositional event in
understanding of the role colour had to play in sculptural
that it suggests potential – rather than an embrace of
thinking – between being within the material or applied
movement as such. His concentration is also on the
to the material as a skin; the use of fibreglass by many
application of processes to create a work rather than
artists was key to this tension.
setting up the conditions for chance or arbitrary process
Carter’s statement included in the catalogue for the New Generation exhibition reflects the moves that he was following in his work. He describes his work primarily as painting; concentrating on the capacity for new acrylic paints to present colour as part of the material of a painting rather than just something applied onto it. With colour and material becoming one, so too does colour and the formation of compositional structure (he later suggested to the curator Bryan Robertson how ‘colour and the structure’ come into being at the same time, so
and following that through. He then ends his statement by providing a framework that has continued to be fundamental for his ongoing practice as an artist and which he has continued to refine: ‘In my use of forms I try to by-pass that graphic arbitrariness of placement by giving the parts of a painting a fundamental, mechanical, or even at times mathematical relationship. So that a series of natural sequences takes place in which one thing follows another in a process of simple cause and effect.’9
that the identification can be made of ‘the structure-
What Carter describes in these last sentences of his
and-the-surface-pattern being the same thing, the one
statement is a way of working that shows a direct
is the other’ ). One direct consequence of this approach
connection to a web of influence that had acted on
to compositional structure can be felt in how elements
him as an art student at Kingston College of Art
of it might be thought to be ‘capable of movement’. This
between 1959 and 1963 and subsequently. It also
leads him to describe most of his paintings as being
points towards his identification by the early 1980s
‘about events, dramas and stories’, but he is careful
with principles of constructivist and concrete art. As a
to stress that ‘this should not be interpreted in any
student he had received a traditional artistic training
literary way since they do not refer to anything outside
where the attainment of a breadth of artistic and craft
themselves. The events are actual physical ones which
skills followed a set curriculum driven by a national
take place in the painting itself … a panel is split and the
examination system. Aware that there was more
7
6
excitement to be had elsewhere, in his final year Carter
also continued to provide a stimulus to him was Rudolf
enrolled in a two-week winter course of experimental
Arnheim’s Art and Visual Perception, first published in
painting in 1962 run in London by Harry Thubron with
1954.10 He returned to Kingston having been introduced
the artists Terry Frost, Hubert Dalwood and the critic
to new ways of working with new materials and ways of
and historian Norbert Lynton. The experience of being
thinking about what he was doing as an artist.
introduced there to the Bauhaus and the principles surrounding Basic Design suggested to Carter that the work of the artist might be not just about accomplishing the tools to reproduce the appearance of things but, more fundamentally, be concerned with understanding how the principles of colour, form, space and growth effect not just what is seen but also how this may be translated through artistic practice. Crucially, he realised that his training as an artist was incomplete if it just concentrated on hand and eye, without including the mind. As a direct result of the course he discovered books that have continued to exert an influence or at the very least act as tangible way-markers towards finding his own voice as an artist. These included Le Corbusier’s The Modulor, published in 1954 and which introduced Carter to principles of proportion and harmony; Lawrence Alloway’s Nine Abstract Artists – a book accompanying a 1954 exhibition presenting a new generation of British artists working within the constructivist tradition, of which work by Anthony Hill
In the autumn of 1963, after Carter had left Kingston, he took up a Leverhulme travelling scholarship to Italy. Since 1958 he had been taught a traditional range of skills, during the year in Europe he taught himself a parallel history of art by going around museums of France and Italy that year. More importantly, this concentrated encounter with the art of the past made him feel ‘the necessity to make new art for our own time’.11 He finished his scholarship with a term at the British School of Rome and there he applied techniques of collage – first learnt at the winter school – to abstracted geometrically-organised elements of the Italian landscape and architecture such as road signs, striped Italian level crossings, black and white banded Sardinian church architecture, and the like. These sources were so submerged as to be illegible in the resulting works that made up his end of term show in June 1964. Carter had started to approach his work as ‘painting objects’ for the first time.
and Mary Martin especially struck a chord with Carter;
These brightly coloured op-paintings lay the ground for
and Matila Ghyka’s The Geometry of Art and Life, that
work that Carter pursued following his return to London,
introduced Carter to ideas underlying pictorial structure.
work that was confirmed by what he encountered at the
Another book that Carter came to later and that has
1964 Venice Biennale. That year the Biennale declared
Corner 1972 Oil and polyurethane on board, metal bar and cord 128 × 359 × 187.5 cm
7
the triumph of contemporary American art over the
scale nature of such painting also created a new type
European traditions that Carter had previously been
of encounter – a new space – between the work and the
immersed in. The U.S. Pavilion signalled the strength
spectator. Although Carter wished to engage in this new
of new languages of art that could be both abstract and
way with the spectator he did this through work that was
demonstrably of the world as we know it, with a range of
at much smaller scale, and it would not be until his own
work embodying the triumph of late modernist painting
inclusion in the third New Generation exhibition and his
alongside its post-modernist refutation – showing the
subsequent exhibitions at the Redfern Gallery that scale
work of Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, John
increased. Furthermore, he didn’t set out to envelop the
Chamberlain, Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg, Morris Louis,
spectator in his work but rather create an engagement
Kenneth Noland and Frank Stella. The effect of this was
through manipulation of the action of perception using
fairly immediate. After a short period using recognisably
optical as much as pictorial methods in which the action
pop imagery, Carter returned to the ‘painting-objects’ he
of illusion is quite real (between what is known and what
had started to make in Rome; works that were abstract,
is real).
made, collaged, assembled, constructed. Colour was arranged in hard-edged bands, stripes, blocks or
Having encountered a particular thrust of U.S. painting
fields. Canvas gave way to interlocking wooden panels.
and sculpture in Venice, as a result of his inclusion in
Painterly gesture was banished in favour of anonymised
the third New Generation show in 1966, Carter gained a
surface. Emblem (made originally in 1964 and later
Stuyvesant award to travel and work in North America
reconstructed in 1999) was the result of bringing
for three months from the autumn of 1966 to the spring
together three separate paintings from Rome made up
of 1967. He criss-crossed the country staying for longer
of slats of colour to make chevrons in the upper and
periods in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and New
lower panels. The middle panel acts as a plug between
Mexico, spending most of his time travelling, observing
the other two and suggests a rotational motion as if
the landscape and looking at art.12 The work that resulted
the slats of the upper panel had been rotated by 90° to
from his time in America formed the basis of his first solo
create a sharper angle pulling the upper panel of blue/
show at the Redfern Gallery in 1968, with one work also
red chevrons towards the lower panel that is itself made
included in Bryan Robertson’s fourth New Generation
up of four columns of diagonal black and white slats to
exhibition in the same year. These works were assembled
create two rows of chevrons. As an image it is direct and
and made mostly from wood although their finish and
uncompromising. Its symmetry has heraldic qualities
paint surface suggested metal, and their forms recalled
found equally in the work of Noland and Ellsworth Kelly
the expanse of the New Mexico landscape (Mesa
as also, in Britain, the work of Jeremy Moon or Robyn
1968), toll-booths on American motorways (a series of
Denny. The work’s shaped nature also chimed with
three First Spacer Paintings 1967-8) or more generally
recent developments, both with Frank Stella’s work as
travelling by Greyhound bus to New Mexico (Archway
with that by Moon or Richard Smith in Britain.
1968 summons up movement through a portal or under a
One way to approach Carter’s work of the mid 1960s is
bridge or overpass).
in this context of an abstract painting that in Britain had
These works mark the beginnings of a decisive shift in
already been typified in the early 1960s by the Situation
Carter’s outlook. By 1971 and his second solo exhibition
painters in Britain, such as Denny and Smith, along
it would be impossible to describe his work in such
with Bob Law, Bernard and Harold Cohen, Gordon
pictorial or anecdotal ways. It was also clear that Carter’s
House, William Turnbull and others, or in terms of the
interest in the suggestion of developmental motion
constructed welded sculpture of Anthony Caro (and
within a work’s composition – the viewer’s engagement
Caro’s 1963 Whitechapel exhibition had a significant
with the work resulting in an unfolding of content –
impact on Carter just before he went on his Leverhulme
ran counter to the predominantly symmetrical, single
scholarship); similarly, affinities can be identified with
shot, compositions that characterised much hard-edge
Noland, Stella and Kelly’s work. The matter-of-fact
geometrical painting and sculpture of the 1960s and
approach to materials as to definition of painted image
1970s. By contrast, formed between mathematical
was held in common with the aim to create a painting
precision and intuition, the explicit nature of Carter’s
as an autonomous object. The declarative and large-
work came to revel in asymmetry. Since the early 1970s
8
his work was characterised by clarity and precision,
Constructivist forms were intended as visual proof of the
a reduction and refinement of structure and form
immutable logic and coherence of universal geometries,
applied to the basic building blocks of wood, paint and
while their seeming counterparts in minimalism were
geometric shape constructed to communicate an idea
demonstrably contingent – denoting a universe held
held within the geometry and colour deployed. Such
together not by Mind but by guy wires, or glue, or the
distilled statements as Squares 1970 reignite the action
accidents of gravity.’13 However much works like Archway
of one key aspect of his work – that it should operate in
or Mesa may connect with the minimal language that
the perceptual field between what is known and what
Krauss describes, it is instead with the continued
is seen. Seeing and understanding was at the heart of
legacies of constructivism and art concret that Carter
that group of perspectival works that followed in 1972
has most fruitfully made his home and returned him to
in which ellipses become circles or three-dimensional
what he recognised as an early stimulus as a student.
shapes appear flat. Then, again, a simplification occurs, perhaps best defined by his Frame works of 1979-80, pairs of thin frame structures whose outlines are each made up of an oblong and parallelogram.
And yet, the identification of Carter with constructivism is not straightforward. Carter’s work runs alongside without directly engaging with the thread of constructivist or constructionist activity in Britain since
The emergence by the early 60s of the twin poles
the early 1950s. Through the 1970s and early 1980s, his
of modernist abstraction (Situation in Britain, Post-
work became more simplified, refined and concerned
Painterly Abstraction in America) and new realist pop
with the presentation of simplified structural situations
had been formed through a clear connection to everyday
(for instance, frames where the area ‘cut out’ is the same
experience; the subject-matter, content and experience
as the area of the frame – and the areas cut out also
of art was not distanced from daily life. This could be
provide the inner surfaces of the object’s opening – the
felt not just in the type of work being generally made
resulting object being the reconfiguring of one surface).
– the nature of image and material – but also how it
Yet, he was never described (or described himself) as a
was approached and perceived by the viewer. In this
constructivist. At this time, as post-conceptualism of the
respect, more minimalist work – in different ways, say,
late 70s was eclipsed as a dominant tendency by neo-
the work of Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Robert Mangold,
expressionist or new-image painting and sculpture, the
Stella, Denny or Moon – primarily occupied an explicitly
ways of working that Carter followed, relying on systems
phenomenological arena that was the same space as the
and analysis, became even more marginalised. It wasn’t
viewer so that encounters with the work revolved around
until after 1986 that Carter came to self-identify in this
perceptual and haptic engagement and response. It was
way and one catalyst for this was the invitation in 1985
this space of perceptual activity within minimalism that
from Galerie Hoffmann near Frankfurt to contribute to
fascinated Carter through the 1970s.
the large group exhibition Die Ecke-Le Coin-The Corner.14
In the 1960s and early 1970s it was common for minimalism to have ascribed to it the historical antecedent of Russian constructivism – that there was in a sense little distance travelled between work such as Naum Gabo’s Two Cubes (Demonstrating the Stereometric Method) 1930 and Donald Judd’s Untitled 1972 (both Tate collection). However encouraged by the retrieval of the history of Soviet revolutionary art at the time such comparisons were, they were also almost entirely
The gallery, run by Adelheid Hoffmann and Hans-Jürgen Slusallek, focused on international artists working within the legacies of constructivism and art concret (they described the gallery’s remit as being with ‘rational concrete art’) and from this single event Carter found on the continent a broad community of like-minded artists that offered opportunities for both discourse and exhibition that has been productive and sustaining ever since.15
erroneous, as Rosalind Krauss debunked in her 1978
Within the 1920s and into the 1930s, constructivism could
essay ‘Sculpture in the Expanded Field’: ‘the content of
be identified in many different ways – in recently Soviet
one had nothing to do with, was in fact the exact opposite
Russia, the work of Tatlin or Rodchenko, Lissitszky or
of, the content of the other… Gabo’s celluloid was the
Gabo described different positions as did its international
sign of lucidity and intellection, while Judd’s plastic-
spread through Europe as can be witnessed through the
tinged-with-dayglo spoke the hip patois of California…
crucible of the Bauhaus, or the different approaches of
9
László Moholy-Nagy or Theo van Doesburg. Through the
that it should ‘be constructed completely with pure
1930s the distinctive social urgencies of constructivism
plastic elements…a pictorial element has no other
became more diluted by the political shifts in Europe
meaning that what it represents, consequently it
leading at the end of the decade to the Second World
possesses no other meaning that what it is by itself’; the
War. After the war, in Britain, these social forces forced
construction should be simple and direct; technique
an identification between the drive for reconstruction
should be precise and be the result of absolute clarity.18
and a rigorous approach to form and structure that the group of constructionists collected within Nine Abstract Artists – including Victor Pasmore, Kenneth and Mary Martin and Anthony Hill – espoused through their concentration on the relief form. The activities of the Systems group of artists in the late 60s and early 70s broadened the terms of reference not only through use of a range of media (including painting) but crucially through a concentration on the application of principles of systematic process that was both analytical and verifiable. If constructivist art always maintained a dialogue between rational determining logic and intuition, with these artists their focus was largely on analytical and decodable systems.
As Carter’s work of the last 40 years amply shows, the concern with constructivist or concrete principles, such as a preoccupation with clarity of structure ordered according to mathematical principles rendered through geometric process – for instance, the ideas of rotational symmetry, the overlaying or superimposition of different neutral geometric figures (oblong and parallelogram, for instance) in a myriad of ways, or the linking of positive and negative space through given ratios of area – serve Carter’s attention to the poetics of perception between what is known and what is seen. It is this that perhaps explains why critics have struggled to categorise his ‘wall objects’; are they paintings (images formed through the manipulation of illusion) or sculpture (things
In a 1983 interview Carter reinforced the consistency of
formed materially in real space)? They instead present
his pre-occupation with the action of perception – what
constructed objects that are demonstrably factual and
he defined as the ‘poetics of visual performance, in
yet play with perception creating a ‘poetics of visual
terms of structure, perspective and interplay between
performance’.
known flat surfaces and implied volumes, or weight and balance, and these are ideas to do with the way you
Andrew Wilson, January 2022
see things and the way you understand them.’16 The ‘performance’ is enacted by the artist in the studio and then this takes place – is staged – through the approach of the viewer to the physicality of the work, reading its qualities of mass or absence, responding to its colour
Endnotes
tonalities and its neutral surface qualities, before then
1
unlocking the systems that have been followed to structure the formation of the work. All of this is available
Robert Hughes, The New Generation: 1966, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 1966, p.38.
2
William Packer, ‘Beyond the Frame’, Art and Artists, December 1971, p.47. Writing in 1974, Packer reinforced this by writing:
to the eye. Carter has maintained for him that ‘what is
‘His work has always fallen within that debateable land that
important is that the final appearance of a … wall-object,
lies somewhere between Painting and Sculpture; yet, though
should be the result of the system or process which
the objects he makes are unquestionably three-dimensional,
brought it into being. The fewer “artistic” decisions,
his preoccupations remain primarily those of the Painter. He concerns himself with problems of spatial ambiguity and the
the better. The elements of my work are bound by a
vocabulary of pictorial illusion.’ William Packer, ‘John Carter’,
systemic logic which is established beforehand. The system, once set, must be followed-through absolutely
Financial Times, 11 November 1974. 3
to its conclusion.’17 Theo van Doesburg’s two-part 1930
Objekte von 1971-1990, Edition & Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg 1990, n.p.
manifesto Art Concret – six clear clauses, followed by longer ‘comments’ on each clause, provided one of the
4
John Carter, untitled statement for ‘Blick über den Armelkanal’, 1994, collected in John Carter, Ideas and Intentions, Editions
most direct underpinnings for the historic tendency Carter is allied to – that art is universal; that the work
‘Dialogue between Klaus Staudt and John Carter’ in John Carter
Tandem, Gerpinnes 1995, p.25. 5
Donald Judd, ‘Specific Objects’ [Arts Yearbook, 8, 1965], Donald
should be fully conceived and formed before it is
Judd: Complete Writings 1959-1975, Press of the College of Art
produced; that it should exclude lyricism, symbolism;
and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia 2005, p.181.
10
6
Ibid., p.184.
7
Bryan Robertson and John Carter, ‘Introduction’ (responses to the artist to questions submitted in conversation by Bryan
8 9
Cohen and Tim Johnson, eds., Constructivist Forum no. 6, 1987, p.40. 15
Germany were provided by the activities during the late 80s and
1983, Warwick Arts Trust, London 1983, np. Relatedly, Carter’s
early 90s of the Pro Foundation organised by Dutch artist Fré
use after 1985 of marble powder mixed in with medium and
Ilgen. Carter engaged with these (one result being his meeting
pigment lent his colour a new materiality producing a surface
in 1989 with Charles Biederman) and has ever since participated
effect that was both tangible and ethereal in equal measure.
in similar conferences (one example being the annual colloquia
Over the last 35 years he has varied the use of marble powder in
organised in Erfurt by the Forum Konkrete Kunst through the
this way and more recently has also not been using it at all.
early 2000s) and exhibited widely throughout the continent
John Carter, untitled statement, The New Generation: 1966,
of Europe within the context of concrete and constructivist
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 1966, p.42.
tendencies, and making friendships with artists like Hartmut Böhm, Klaus Staudt and Claus Bury.
Three works by Carter were acquired by institutional collections from The New Generation: 1966 exhibition: Alan Bowness
16
Bryan Robertson and John Carter, 1983, op.cit., np.
selected Lever Painting 1966 for the Arts Council Collection,
17
John Carter, Ideas and Intentions, Editions Tandem, Gerpinnes 1995, p.9.
Scatola 1966 was presented to the Oldham Gallery by the Contemporary Art Society (selected by Joe Tilson), and
10
Meetings for symposia as for exhibitions in the Netherlands and
Robertson), John Carter, paintings, drawings and structures 1965-
18
Paraphrased from Theo van Doesburg, Otto Carlsund, Jean
Sideways and Down 1966 was acquired by the Peter Stuyvesant
Hélion, Léon Tutundjian, Marcel Wantz, ‘Art Concret. The
Foundation and subsequently presented to Southampton City
basis of concrete painting’, Art Concret, April 1930, p.1. English
Art Gallery through the Contemporary Art Society.
translation in Joost Baljeu, Theo van Doesburg, Studio Vista,
Carter discusses the importance of these books in the 2019
London 1974, pp.180-181.
‘Interview with John Carter R.A. by Patrick Morrissey https:// www.saturationpoint.org.uk/John%20Carter.html 11
John Carter, ‘Between Dimensions’, John Carter on Paper, Royal Academy of Arts, London 2019, p.23.
12
Before Carter left, Bryan Robertson had furnished him with a list of names and addresses of artists, critics and dealers to meet, several of whom he did meet, however socialising in this way was not his priority. The list, preserved in Carter’s archives, includes Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Ad Reinhardt, Barnett Newman, Robert Morris and Yvonne Rainer, Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Mark Rothko, Larry Poons, as well as curators such as Kynaston McShine, Bill Lieberman, Henry Geldzahler (marked as ‘for everything’), Thomas Messer, the dealers Leo Castelli and Sidney Janis, and collectors such as Robert and Ethel Scull, Philip Johnson, Burton Tremaine and – marked as ‘crucially important’ – both Ben Heller and William Rubin.
13
Rosalind Krauss, ‘Sculpture in the Expanded Field’ collected in, The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths, MIT Press, London 1986, p.278.
14
The artist Nigel Hall had visited Galerie Hoffmann, subsequently suggesting to Carter that it might be a gallery sympathetic to his work. Consequently, Carter sent the gallery a recent catalogue of his work and, as a result, he was later invited to participate in Die Ecke. The exhibition, inspired by Tatlin’s corner counter-compositions, took two years to organise and included 109 artists from 17 countries. A small number of works including Carter’s were realised for the exhibition, with all other work shown as proposals and documentation, the totality of the exhibition being realised through an accompanying publication. Carter with George Meyrick and Gary Woodley, all included in the exhibition, described how the installation and opening of the exhibition ‘became a truly international event developing into an informal convention in which ideas were discussed and information exchanged’; see their article ‘Die Ecke-Le Coin-The Corner Exhibition’ in Nathan
11
Double Equal Areas in Red 1981 Oil on board 83 × 78.7 × 4 cm
12
Three Equal Rectangles (Blue) 1982 Oil on plywood 65.5 × 59.7 cm
14
Transparent Space in Blue II 1982 Oil on board 142 × 109 × 15 cm
16
Halved Areas on an Axis 1984 (completed 2005) Oil on plywood 72 × 91 × 6 cm
18
Painting on an Angled Surface II 1985 Oil on plywood 35 × 82 × 6 cm
20
Overlaid Elements: Double Square 1988 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood 100 × 200 × 15 cm
22
Untitled Theme: Complete Fragment II 1988 Acrylic with marble powder on MDF 42.5 × 94 × 7 cm
24
Untitled Theme: Triangular Slots 1988/89 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood 98 × 110 × 10.4 cm
26
Untitled Theme: Archway II 1988 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood 40 × 42 × 7.5 cm
28
Untitled Theme: Pierced Square, Yellow 1988/90 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood 36.5 × 36.5 × 6.5 cm
30
Superimposed Elements: Four Squares I 1989/90 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood 24 × 96 × 9.5 cm
32
Superimposed Elements in a Square I & II 1990 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood Each part: 100 × 100 × 15 cm
34
Intersecting Elements II 1991 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood 60 × 30 × 10 cm
36
Superimposed Elements: Horizontal Formation (Blues) 1991 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood 25 × 50 × 7.3 cm
38
Diagonal Slice 1995 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood Two parts, each 226 × 66 × 12 cm
40
Cross Traversing a Square 1999 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood 100 × 100 × 5 cm
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Right Angles II 1999/2020 Acrylic with marble powder on hardboard Diptych: overall length 142.7 cm Each part: 45.7 × 71.1 cm
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Right Angles (Raw Umber and White) 1999 Acrylic with marble powder on board 19.5 × 60.5 × 4.5 cm
46
Three Turns 2002 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood 93 × 97.7 × 7 cm
48
Parallelogram: Folded Square 2004 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood 80 × 88 × 6.7 cm
50
Four Turns: Vertical Format 2005 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood 178 × 120 × 10 cm
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Positive and Negative Forms II 2008 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood 122 × 83 × 8.5 cm
54
Pierced Square in Red 2008/10 Acrylic with marble powder on plywood 51 × 49 × 4 cm
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Inclined Plane, First Study 1982 Chalk and wash on paper 69.5 × 48 cm
58
Transition Project 2021 Acrylic gouache on paper 25.9 × 21.7 cm
From One Side to the Other, Study 2020 Acrylic gouache on paper 38.3 × 34.1 cm
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Column, Eight Identical Shapes 2018 Acrylic gouache on paper 37 × 23.8 cm
Displacement: Horizontal Format 2019 Bronze 24.5 × 66 × 9.4 cm Edition: 6
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Chronology 1942 Born Hampton Hill, Middlesex,GB 1958-59 Studies at Twickenham School of Art 1959-63 Studies at Kingston School of Art 1962 Experimental Painting course under Harry Thubron and Terry Frost 1963-64 Leverhulme Travelling Scholarship, to France and Italy 1964 British School at Rome 1965-66 Works as assistant to Bryan Kneale. Begins part time teaching at London College of Printing. Later teaches part-time in many art schools. 1966 Exhibits in ‘New Generation’ at Whitechapel Gallery, London 1966-67 Peter Stuyvesant Foundation Travel Bursary to USA 1968 First solo exhibition at the Redfern Gallery 1976 Wins a prize at the Tolly Cobbold/Eastern Arts 3rd National Exhibition 1977 Arts Council of Great Britain Award 1979 Arts Council of Great Britain Purchase Award 1983 Retrospective exhibition at Warwick Arts Trust, London 1986 Takes part in international exhibition ‘Die Ecke’ at Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, Frankfurt, Germany 1999 Retires from all part-time teaching, on leaving Chelsea College of Art and Design 2007 Elected Royal Academician 2010 Retrospective exhibition at the Redfern Gallery and the publication of a monograph on the artist’s work by the Royal Academy of Arts 2016 Awarded Hon.Doctorate in Art and Design by Kingston University Lives and works in London. Solo Exhibitions 1968 'First Exhibition: Paintings, Constructions, Drawings', Redfern Gallery, London 1971 'Recent Work', Redfern Gallery, London 1974 'Paintings, Constructions and Drawings,' Redfern Gallery, London 1977 'New Works', Redfern Gallery, London 1978 'For Four Days', Studio Exhibition, London 1979 'Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings', The Old Library Building, University of Reading 1980 'Constructions', Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London 1983 'Paintings, Drawings and Structures, 1965-1983', Warwick Arts Trust, London 'Constructions and Drawings', Nicola Jacobs
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1987 1989
1990
1991
1994 1995
1996
1998 1999 2000 2001
2002
2003
2004
2005 2006
Gallery, London 'New Work', Moris Gallery, Tokyo 'New Work', Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London Moris Gallery, Tokyo Gallery Yamaguchi, Osaka, Japan 'Drawings and Structures', Sumi Gallery, Okayama, Japan Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London 'Objekte und Zeichnungen', Edition & Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, Germany Carré Estampes (with Luc Thiburs), Luxembourg 'Wand Objekte', Galerie Wack, Kaiserslautern, Germany Knoedler Gallery, London 'Objekte', Museum Moderner Kunst Landkreis Cuxhaven, Otterndorf, Germany Belloc Lowndes Fine Art, Chicago, USA 'Wandobjekte', Gudrun Spielvogel Galerie & Edition, Munich, Germany Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de la Cambre, Brussels, Belgium 'Recent Work', Francis Graham Dixon Gallery, London 'Skulpturen und Wandobjekte', Galerie Lattemann, Mühltal-Trautheim, Darmstadt, Germany 'Objekte, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik', Galerie St. Johann, Saarbrücken, Germany 'Surface, Colour, Structure; Neue Wandobjekte', Gudrun Spielvogel Galerie, Munich 'For Four Days', Studio Exhibition, London 'Wandobjekte', Galerie Emilia Suciu (with Ursula Diebel), Ettlingen, Germany 'Farbigen Wandobjekten', Werkstatt-Galerie Gundis & Heinz Friege, Remscheid, Germany Galerie Its-Art-Ist, Waterloo, Belgium Galerie Wack, Kaiserslautern, Germany 'Between Painting and Sculpture', The Slade Gallery, University College, London Espace Fanal, Basle, Switzerland 'Arbeiten auf Papier und Wandobjekte', Galerie Lattemann, Mühltal-Trautheim, Germany 'Wall Sculptures', Benoot Gallery, Knokke-Zoute, Belgium 'Wandobjekte und Arbeiten auf Papier', Artmark Galerie, Spital am Pyhrn, Austria 'Recent Work', The Blue Gallery, London Konstruktiv Tendens, Stockholm, Sweden Galerie Konkret Martin Wörn, Sulzburg/Breisgau, Germany Benoot Gallery (with Horst Linn), Knokke-Zoute,
2007
2008
2009
2010 2011
2012
2013
2014
2015 2016
Belgium 'Wall Objects', De Vierde Dimensie, Plasmolen, Netherlands Galerie Wack, Kaiserslautern, Germany 'Surface, Structure, Colour; Neue Wandobjekte', Gudrun Spielvogel Galerie, Munich 'Wandobjekte 1896 – 2008' (with Lars Englund), Galerie & Edition Hoffmann, Friedberg 'British Arts, John Carter', Live and Moris Gallery, Tokyo Konstruktiv Tendens, Stockholm, Sweden Galerie St.Johann, Saarbrücken, Germany 'Take 2', Works on Paper (with Belinda Cadbury), NSA Noborimachi Space of Art, Hiroshima, Japan 'Carter', Espace Fanal, Basle, Switzerland 'Retrospective', Redfern Gallery, London 'Wall Sculptures', Galerie Grewenig/Nissen, Heidelberg, Germany 'Two and a Half Dimensions', De Vierde Dimensie, Plasmolen, Netherlands 'Between Dimensions', Galerie La Ligne, Zurich, Switzerland 'Sideways and Down', A special display of the 1966 sculpture with three other works, Southampton City Art Gallery, UK Galerie Wack, Kaiserslautern, Germany 'To the Edge', Young Gallery, John Creasey Museum, Salisbury, UK Two large early works from the Arts Council Collection installed in Royal Festival Hall for longterm display 'Surface Defined; Neue Wandobjekte,' Gudrun Spielvogel Galerie, Munich, Germany 'Between Dimensions', Tennant Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, London 'Surface and Structure: An Exhibition of Recent Work', Redfern Gallery, London Galerie La Ligne, Zurich, Switzerland Galerie Leonhard, Graz, Austria 'Les Etudes, les Estampes', Fondation Louis Moret, Martigny, Switzerland 'John Carter, neuere wandobjekte,' Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, Germany 'Arbeiten auf Papier Retrospektiv', Galerie Wack, Kaiserslautern, Germany ' Déplacements', Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet Paris Plage, France 'Adeiledd ac Arwynebedd', MOMA Machynlleth, Wales, UK 'Belinda Cadbury and John Carter', Galerie
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2017
2018
2019
2022
Leonhard, Graz, Austria 'Between Painting and Sculpture', Galerie La Vitrine, Fribourg, Switzerland 'Surface – Relief', Atelier- Editions Fanal, Basle, Switzerland 'Erweiterte Malerei', Museum der Wahrnehmung, MUWA, Graz, Austria 'Painting becomes Object, Neue Wandobjekte', Gudrun Spielvogel Galerie, Munich, 'John Carter + Klaus Staudt', Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, Germany 'John Carter: Sight Lines' Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, UK 'John Carter: On Paper', Redfern Gallery, London 'John Carter: Sight Lines', Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, UK 'John Carter: On Paper, Surface and Structure', Redfern Gallery, London 'John Carter RA, In Print', Royal Academy of Arts, London 'John Carter: at 80', Selected works, Redfern Gallery, London
1979
1980
1981
Group Exhibitions 1966
1968
1969
1971 1974 1975
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'New Generation 1966,' Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, tour including Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; WhitworthArt Gallery, Manchester; Plymouth City Art Gallery 'Summer Exhibition,' Redfern Gallery, London, 1967 – 1979 'Leicestershire Collection: Part II', Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 'New Generation: 1968,' Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 'New British Painting and Sculpture', UCLA Galleries, Los Angeles, touring to: University of California, Berkeley; Portland Art Museum; Vancouver Art Gallery; Henry Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Musée d’art Contemporain, Cité du Havre, Montréal 'Seven Redfern Artists', Redfern Gallery, London 'British Painting ’74', Hayward Gallery, London 'Cleveland International Drawing Biennale', Middlesbrough Art Gallery, touring to: Arts Council Gallery, Belfast; National Museum of Wales, Cardiff; Birmingham Art Gallery; Carlisle Art Gallery; Charlotte Square Gallery, Edinburgh; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle;
1984
1985 1986
1988
Camden Arts Centre, London 'The British Art Show,' Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield, touring to: Arnolfini, Bristol, Royal West of England Academy and Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle 'Drawings by British Artists', British Council Touring Exhibition 'Tolly Cobbold, Eastern Arts 2nd National Exhibition', Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, touring to The Castle Museum, Norwich; Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich; Camden Arts Centre, London; Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield 'The First Exhibition', Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London 'The British Council Collection', Serpentine Gallery, London 'John Moores Exhibition 12', Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 'British Art 1940-1980, The Arts Council Collection', Hayward Gallery, London 'Tolly Cobbold, Eastern Arts 3rd National Exhibition', Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, touring to: Chiristchurch Mansion, Ipswich; Castle Museum, Norwich; Institute of Contemporary Art, London; Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield 'The British Art Show, Old Allegiances and New Directions 1979-84', City of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery; Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh; Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield; Southampton Art Gallery 'New Works on Paper,' British Council Touring Exhibition to: Poland, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, East Germany & Romania 'Contemporary Art Society Exhibition', Sutton Place,Surrey 'Die Ecke, Le Coin, The Corner', Edition & Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, touring to Musée Cantonal des Beaux Arts, Sion; lngolstadt Stadtheater, lngolstadt 'Von Zwei Quadraten,' Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen 'Null-Dimension', Galerie New Space, Fulda; touring to Kunst International, Hipp-Halle, Gmunden; Muzeum Architektury, Wroclaw 'Britannica: 30 Ans de Sculpture,' Musée André Malraux, Le Havre ; touring to Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Toulouse
1989
1990
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
'The Presence of Painting, Aspects of British Abstraction 1957-88', Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield; touring to Hatton Gallery, Newcastleupon-Tyne; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham 'Arte Constructivo y Sistematico', Centro Cultural de la Villa, Madrid 'The Spuikom Models', Gallery Bellamy 19, Vlissingen '1000 cubic cm Geometrische Miniaturen', Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen and Galerie De Sluis, Amsterdam 'Between Dimensions', Curwen Gallery, London 'John Carter, Masaji Kashlo, Tamotsu Shiihara, Makio Yamaguchi', Gallery Yamaguchi Warehouse, Osaka 'Tendenz Konstruktiv, Zehn Bildhauer aus Sieben Europäischen Ländern', Bildhauergalerie 'Konkrete Multiples II', Galerie L’ldée, Zoetermeer 'Geometrisk Abstraktion X', Konstruktiv Tendens, Stockholm 'Ytans Djup', Konstruktiv Tendens, Stockholm 'A Double Exhibition,' University Gallery, Reading 'Konkrete Kunst International', I.D.A.C Foundation, Zoetermeer 'Geometrisk Abstraktion XI', Konstruktiv Tendens, Stockholm 'Imprints and Ka! Editions', Galerie Lydie Rekow, Crest 'Aspects Actuels de la Mouvance Construite Internationale', Musée des Beaux Arts, Verviers; Koninklijk Museum, Antwerp; Galerie Its-Art-Ist. La Hulpe, Belgium 'Skulptur und Architektur: Ein Diskurs,' Lichtwiese, Technische Universität, Darmstadt 'Forum Konkrete Kunst Erfurt', Museum der Künstler, Erfurt 'Projekt 30 x 30 Konkrete Kunst International,' Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen 'Interférences', Musée des Beaux-Arts, Mons 'Blick über den Armelkanal', Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern 'Kleine Bilder, Zeichnungen, Objekte, Plastiken, Accrochage,' Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung, Bonn Autour du Papier', Abbaye de Bouchemaine, Angers 'Ka! Editions', Eagle Gallery, London 'Jubiläum', Gudrun Spielvogel Galerie & Edition, Munich 'Buck über den Armelkanal', Kunstmuseum, Thun
1997
1998 1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
'British Abstract Art, Part 3: Works on Paper', Flowers East, London 'Open Door', Magyar Képzömüvészeti Föiskola, Budapest 'Zeichnen Konkret,' Galerie St Johann, Saarbrucken 'Zeichnungen', Galerie Wack, Kaiserslautern 'Concrete Kunst', Cultureel Centrum, KnokkeHeist, Belgium 'Point, Line, Plane', Francis Graham-Dixon Gallery, London 'Von der Fläche in den Raum', Galerie im Hause Dacheröden, Erfurt 'Music - Small is Beautiful', Flowers East, London 'Badur, Carter, Tyson', Galerie Avivson, Paris 'L'Art Constructif à travers l’Europe Contemporaine, Château des Bouillants, Dammarie-lès-Lys, Melun 'Art Constructif en Europe 1950-1998', Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil 'Pure Abstract Art 30 × 30/40 × 40', Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort 'Triennial Sculpture Exhibition', Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 'Naju International Art Festival', Naju, Korea 'Small is Beautiful', Flowers West, Los Angeles 'Traits d’Union', Artothèque, Annecy '30 Jahre Galerie St Johann - 30 x 30 x 30 Malerei, Objekte, Zeichnungen', Galerie St Johann, Saarbrücken 'Constructive Art in Europe at the threshold of the new millennium', Galerie Emilia Suciu, Ettlingen; and 'Hors Lieu', JMM, Strasbourg 'Mondiale Echo’s', Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort '30 Jahre Galerie St.Johann – Das entgrenzte Bild, 'VKB Galerie, 10 Gmundner Symposion, Gmunden 'Das entgrenzte Bild', Städtische Kunstsammlungen, Schloss Salder, SalzgitterSalder; Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung e.V. Bonn; Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen 'British Abstract Painting 2001', Flowers East Gallery, London 'Poesie der Farbe', Galerie St. Johann, Saarbrücken 'Summer Exhibition', Royal Academy of Arts, London, annually, from this date 'Europa - Konkret - Reduktiv', Museum Modern Art, Hünfeld; Muzeum Architektury Wroclaw, 'Zeichnen Konkret', Galerie Grewenig, Heidelberg 'Hommage to... the Square?' Galerie & Edition
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2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
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Hoffmann, Friedberg 'Ausstellung: 10 - Zehn - X', Peterskirche, Forum Konkrete Kunst, Erfurt 'Konstruktive Kunst aus England', Stadtbucherei, Niebüll 'Europa Konkret', Altana Galerie, Technische Universität, Dresden 'Black and White', Benoot Gallery, Knokke -Zoute, Belgium 'Mesures Art International', Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis 'Zuwächse', Graphische Sammlung, Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern '50 Quadrat', Galerie + Edition Konkret Martin Wörn, Sulzburg '50 Quadrat', Orangerie des Musées, Sens 'Argumenta', Atlas Sztuki, Lodz 'John Carter, Julia Farrer, Noel Forster, Recent Work', Emma Hill Fine Art, London 'Jahresausstellung 2005/06 Multiple Objekte', Galerie St. Johann, Saarbrücken 'Handdruck + Objekt', Galerie Wack, Kaiserslautern 'Geometrisk Abstraktion XXIV 2005', Konstruktiv Tendens, Stockholm 'To the Edge', Beardsmore Gallery, London 'Leben mit Kunst', Die Sammlung Kaldewey, Museum Haus Ludwig, Saarlouis '1985 - 2005 Jubiläums-Ausstellung Gundis und Heinz Friege', Galerie der Stadt, Remscheid 'Ausstellung Forum Konkrete Kunst Erfurt', Mainzer Rathaus, Mainz 'Critics Choice, William Packer', Lemon Street Gallery, Truro 'Ausstellung Motiva', Austria Center, Vienna 'ARTfutures', Contemporary Art Society, Bloomberg Space, London 'Exemplifizieren wird Kunst', Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, and Vasarely Museum, Budapest; Ludwig Museum im Deutschherrenhaus, Koblenz 'Towards a Rational Aesthetic: Constructive Art in Post-War Britain', Osborne Samuel, London 'Geometric Abstraction – a view,' Benoot Gallery, Ostende, Belgium 'A Rational Aesthetic. The Systems Group and Associated Artists', Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton 'ARTfutures', Contemporary Art Society Exhibition, Bloomberg Space, London 'John Carter, Julia Farrer, Albert Irvin, Peter
2009
2010
2011
2012
Sedgley, Marc Vaux', Friends of Jules de Goede, Broadbent, London 'Das Helle and das Dunkle in der Konkreten Kunst', Forum Konkrete Kunst, Peterskirche, Erfurt, Germany 'das kleine format – petit format – small format', Institut für konstruktive kunst und konkrete poesie, Kunsthaus Rehau, Rehau, Germany 'Aspects of British Abstract Art 1950 – 1985', Portland Gallery, London 'Gegenstandlos', 200 Künstlerinnen aus 18 Ländern, Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung, Bonn, Germany 'Positionen konkreter Kunst heute', Landesmuseum Mainz, Mainz, Germany 'L’Oblique', Un regard sur la géometrie contemporaine, Musées de Montbéliard, France 'Dialogues + Transformations', Frank Badur, John Carter, Julia Farrer, Eagle Gallery EMH Arts, London 'Mehr fach. - kunst in kleinen auflagen', Galerie Konkret Martin Wörn, Sulzburg/Breisgau '40 Jahre Galerie St.Johann', Jahresausstellung 2009/10, Galerie St Johann, Saarbrücken 'Couleur et Géométrie. Actualité de l’Art Construit Européen', Musées de Sens, France; Kunstverein 'Talstrasse' e.V. Halle, Germany; Kunsthaus, Nürnberg; National Museum, Kielce, Poland; Centre d’Art Contemporain Frank Popper, Marcigny, France (2011) 'Galerie Emilia Suciu, Geometrisch – Abstrakt – Kinetisch', Kunstverein Speyer 'Edition Konkret Martin Wörn,' Kabinettausstellung im Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg 'A Quiet Moment', John Carter, Simon Fitzgerald, Yoko Sawai, Gallery Yamaguchi, kunst-bau, Osaka 'Formes et Lumière: la Sculpture dans l’Art Construit, Musée de Cambrai, touring to: PierreAndré Benoit Museum, Alès, France 'NSA collection, Part-1 & Part-2', Noborimachi Space of Art, Hiroshima 'Blau', Galerie Konkret Martin Wörn, Sulzburg/ Breisgau Group Exhibition, De Vierde Dimensie, Plasmolen, Netherlands '(geometrische) Abstractie 1950-2010, een hommage aan Joost Baljeu', Galerie Witteveen, Amsterdam 'Ausbruch, Malerie und realer Raum', Museum Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern, touring to:
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Academie der Künste, Berlin; Museum im Kulturspeicher, Würzburg; Kunsthalle, Rostock 'Konstrukivismus, Op-Art, Kinetik', Galerie Leonhard, Graz 'Skulpturen', Ausstellung im Skulpturenpark beim Viadukt und in der Galerie, Galerie La Ligne, Zurich 'Modern British Remade', An Arts Council Collection Exhibition, Park Hill, Sheffield 'Positionen konkreter Kunst heute', Stadtmuseum Simeonstift, Trier 'Fanal', regard sur 35 ans d’editions, Galerie Gimpel & Müller, Paris 'RA Now', Royal Academy of Arts, London 'Kontraste von Real bis Konkret Handzeichnungen', Galerie Grewenig/Nissen, Heidelberg-Handschuhsheim, Germany 'Gifted: From the Royal Academy to The Queen', The Queen’s Gallery, London 'Overzicht 1', De Vierde Dimensie, Plasmolen, Netherlands 'Automatic Art: human and machine processes that make art', GV Art gallery, London 'A Fine Line: Concrete, Constructivist and Minimal Art', Austin/Desmond Fine Art, London 'Die Linie', Galerie Grewenig/Nissen, HeidelbergHandschuhsheim, Germany 'Ballet Concrete', ZS ART Galerie, Vienna 'Embodying Colour', Haus Metternich, Koblenz, Germany 'Affinités Abstraites', Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet Paris-Plage, France 'A Wonderful Adventure', 25 Jahre Ka! Editions, Städtisches Kunstmuseum Spendhaus Reutlingen, Germany 'Affinités Abstraites Bleues', Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet Paris-Plage, France 'Rythme et Geometrie', Couvent des Cordeliers, Musées de Châteauroux 'Contempler le Silence', Musée du Touquet-Paris Plage, France 'Hommage au Carré', Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet Paris-Plage, France 'Ein Jubiläum 25 Jahre', Gudrun Spielvogel Galerie & Edition, Munich 'Carrément 4', Espace Peugeot, Paris 'Occasional Geometries', Selection from the Arts Council Coll. by Rana Begum, Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park 'Abstract Syntax', Eagle Gallery, London 'Das Werk als Raum im Raum', ZS Galerie, Vienna
2019
2020
2021
2022
'Espaces en Réflexion', Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet Paris-Plage 'New acquistions', Prints and Drawings, British Museum, London 'Gomringer!' A tribute exhibition on the occasion of his 95th birthday. Museum der Wahnehmung, Graz, Austria 'Unfinished Business', Newcastle University 'Gifts and Acquisitions', Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, USA 'Summer Exhibition', Royal Academy of Arts, London 'Embodying Colour V,', Raum Schroth im Museum Wilhelm Morgner, Soest, Germany 'Pairings', Jaggedart, London 'Small is Beautiful', Flowers Gallery, London 'Rot ist schön – Eine Accrochage', Gudrun Spielvogel Galerie & Edition, Munich 'Hard Painting I', Phoenix Gallery, Brighton 'ZSELECTION', ZS Art Gallery, Vienna 'Gommisti', Imprints-Galerie, Crest, France 'Accrochage', Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet ParisPlage 'Summer/Winter Exhibition', Royal Academy of Arts, London 'konkret und darüber hinaus', E & K Stiftung, Freiburg 'Small is Beautiful', Flowers Gallery, London 'das unfolgsame quadrat', Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, Germany 'Wer Weiss?', Gudrun Spielvogel Galerie & Edition, Munich 'Winter/Summer Exhibition', Royal Academy of Arts, London 'Small is Beautiful', Flowers Gallery, London 'Winter Exhibition', Redfern Gallery, London
John Carter’s work is held extensively in public and institutional collections nationally and internationally
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Acknowledgements Andrew Wilson is an art historian, curator and critic. He was senior curator modern & contemporary British art and archives at Tate Britain 2006-2021, and deputy editor of Art Monthly 1997-2006. Exhibitions include Conceptual Art in Britain 1964-1979 (Tate Britain 2016); David Hockney (Tate Britain; Centre Pompidou Paris; Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, 2017-18) and Patrick Heron (Tate St Ives; Turner Contemporary Margate, 2018-19). He is a founder member of the London Institute of ’Pataphysics, and is currently editor of the Patrick Heron Catalogue Raisonné project. Photography: Peter Abrahams, John Riddy, John Webb Page 68: Portrait of John Carter by Eamonn McCabe Design: Graham Rees Design Print: Five Castles Ltd
Published by The Redfern Gallery, 2022 ISBN: 978-0-948460-90-6 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying recording or any other information storage or retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the gallery.
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