The real perils of a world that we don't want, sparks a queer desire to fashion an Off-World ethereal cosmopolis we do want.
Each sculpture is a way-finding apparatus formed for the purpose of guiding Subverts & Misfits with underground outsider tendencies towards intentional communities.
Curvy-linear silhouettes affectionately envelope a panorama where soft floral colours, femme forms and celestial objects are episodic points of interest. Serrated edges provide security against destructive Dream Killers.
Regard the rendezvous; Pussy Cat Pirates cautiously tangle with elements of the Clique Trixic where they eye Femaric skateboarding rail-sliders. Dove-like - Distorted - Sideways in reverse.
Polyamorous crypt denizens adjust the aerials and twirl the dials of an old Darling Delia (Derbyshire) to locate high-volume horror-punk anthems, right round spinners and rub-a-dub hot steppers.
Floral regalia on peacock display in a declaration of attitude, these astral phenomena move together in treble, whispering like a ballet slipper street gang.
– Nathan Carter
Esther Schipper is pleased to announce Silky-way Sylvan Slip-throughs Serrated Sub-space Side-winders and Countess Von Venomous' Private Pearl Position, a special presentation by Nathan Carter, who has had four solo exhibitions with the gallery. On view will be three new sculptural works.
Nathan Carter is known for creating fictional worlds. His objects, images and titles fuse elements of storytelling, the visual language of surrealist erotic illustration, cartography, celestial navigation charts, subversive music, outsider subcultures and the history of abstraction in order to make maps and fluid atmospheric landscapes that serve as sculptural way-finding diagrams leading to intentional communities. The artist's inspirations have always been eclectic and wide-ranging. His art develops from this voracious intake of information, images, music, popular culture & mass media but also from a culture of exchange of ideas, language, accumulation of shapes, colours, crossing boundaries of media, mining the exuberance of the visual world and of all social interaction.
Suspended from the ceiling, the three new sculptural works playfully combine delicate linear elements and a multitude of suspended whimsical, soft abstract shapes. This new body of works focuses on a formal language of shapes and symbols that allude to feminine anatomy, floral forms and colours but with dangerously sharp edges that serve as a self-defense mechanism. Silky Way Sylvan slip throughs for Switchblade Shirley from Sapphronia, 2022, for instance, consists of a coral red armature of intersecting curving lines appearing as a sinuous thoroughfare in which a multitude of small metal elements hang suspended. Continuing his characteristic DIY aesthetic, the small cut-outs are hand painted and their rounded shapes dangle mobile-like from fine metal wires. The second work, The Countess von Venomous revealed her Lipstick Lavender slip in the haunted ethereal Nymphaeum, 2022, has larger cut-out elements in liquid, drop-like forms, held in violets, pale pink and gold, combined with metallic triangles. To the artist, his forms evoke atmospheric locations where mysterious figures, forces of benevolence, enchantment and mischief oppose tyranny. Thus, Serrated Sub-Space Side- Winders in legendary revelry with Venus Ascendent and her Lithromantic Misfit Lovlies, 2022, a work in mint green, pink and gold features a mix of angular and crescent-shaped forms combine to make what Carter calls a fantastical moon and star chart for a power femme rendezvous.
A driving force of Carter's contemporary works is the question of self-invention, a notion also explored in his two films THE DRAMASTICS ARE LOUD, 2016, and LA GNARLIES, 2021, and most recently in the artist's recent collaborative series of staged photographs, images and portraits of the artist conjuring MARS The Goddess of Sex and Death as she explores her trans-identity and draws on historical photographs from the 1950s through the 1980s of marginalised groups considered transgressive by mainstream society.
The generous stance of Nathan Carter's works and his exhibitions as fun-fuelled events, encapsulates the exuberance associated with youth subcultures, yet at the core of his production is the excessive force of culture in general, the expenditure of creative energy as gift—generosity as post-punk gesture.
Nathan Carter was born 1970 in Dallas, Texas, United States. He studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston and received his MFA from the Yale University School of Art. The artist lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
The artist's solo exhibitions include: The DRAMASTICS: A Punk Rock Victory Twister in Texas, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2017); Ladies and Gentlemen, Meet the Dramastics, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Denver (2016); ALWAYS VOCAL ON THE INTERBORO CROSSTOWN LOCAL, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston (2012); CHERRY RIPE RADIO AND THE TEXAS TWO STEP SETUP, Onestar Press, Paris (2010), and THE FLYING BRIXTON BANGARANG AND RADIO VIBRATION VEX-VENTURE, MURA: Museo de Arte Raul Anguiano, Guadalajara (2009).
His work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; The Art Gallery of Toronto; The Vancouver Art Gallery, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Miami Art Museum; Tate Modern, London; DA2 Centre of Contemporary Art, Salamanca; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, and CU Art Museum, Boulder.
Press release courtesy Esther Schipper.
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