Nanette Carter

(American, born 1954)

the weight #27  by nanette carter

Nanette Carter

The Weight #27 , 2019

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the weight #28  by nanette carter

Nanette Carter

The Weight #28 , 2019

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the weight #30  by nanette carter

Nanette Carter

The Weight #30 , 2019

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destabilizing #1 by nanette carter

Nanette Carter

Destabilizing #1, 2021

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destabilizing #3 by nanette carter

Nanette Carter

Destabilizing #3, 2022

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shifting perspectives #1 by nanette carter

Nanette Carter

Shifting Perspectives #1, 2022

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destabilizing #2 by nanette carter

Nanette Carter

Destabilizing #2, 2022

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black and white #2 by nanette carter

Nanette Carter

Black and White #2, 2021

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black and white #1 by nanette carter

Nanette Carter

Black and White #1, 2021

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black and white #5 by nanette carter

Nanette Carter

Black and White #5, 2022

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black and white #4 by nanette carter

Nanette Carter

Black and White #4, 2021

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black and white #3 by nanette carter

Nanette Carter

Black and White #3, 2022

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Biography

Timeline

1975
L'Accademia di Belle Arti Perugia, Italy
1976
BFA, Oberlin College Oberlin, OH
1978
MFA, Pratt Institute of Art Brooklyn, NY
Born in Columbus, Ohio Nanette Carter spent most of her childhood in Montclair, New Jersey. Her first art classes started at the age of 6 at the Montclair Art Museum. She attended Oberlin College in Ohio majoring in Studio Art and Art History. During her junior year she studied abroad in Perugia, Italy, traveling through Europe and North Africa. Nanette received her MFA at Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn, NY. Today she is a tenured Associate Professor at Pratt teaching Drawing/Mixed Media.

Nanette recalls heated discussions at her family’s dinner table covering politics and the Negro Movement (50’s through the 60’s). She states, “The Zeitgeist of our era has fed my imagination and fueled my work”. Her most recent series titled “Afro Sentinels” emanates from the desire to combat racial injustice with a cadre of vigilant guards. All of these warriors are endowed with a desire to protect all black and brown people. Her frieze of different size and shape Sentinels have the strength and acumen to halt all negative forces. These soldiers are fictional constructs that speak to the need for parity and humanity in the world.

We see platoons of clay soldiers that protected Emperor Qin Shi Huang, China’s first Emperor, during his eternal rest inside his tomb. In Egypt we see carved wooden guardians who protect the Pharaohs in the afterlife. With Afro-Sentinels we have impactful warriors who endeavor to protect living people of color from all atrocities.

Her series “Cantilevered”, begun in 2013, continues to fascinate her. These works have become Nanette’s metaphor for living in the 21st Century. Cantilever is an architectural term defining a structure that is anchored at one end then balancing a structure on top that extends horizontally from the base. We are all balancing numerous responsibilities, keeping up with technology, a deluge of information, politics and history. All the burdens of contemporary life. “The Weight”, a series begun in 2015, also speaks to the weight compounded on us as we aspire to move forward to better our lives.

Over the years Nanette has received several grants which include the New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, The Jerome Foundation, The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation and more. She is in numerous collections. Nanette has had international solo exhibitions in Japan, Syria, Cuba and Italy.

Working with intangible ideas around contemporary issues has been Nanette’s modus operandi for many years. How to present these ideas in an abstract vocabulary of form, line and color has peeked her imagination for decades. Today her tools are oils and Mylar. Nanette’s goals are to present the mysteries of nature and human nature while she hopes to achieve the maximum luminosity, transparency and density in her works.

Exhibitions

2019
Gallery Ami-Kanoko, Osaka, Japan
Gallery Hatoba, Kyoto, Japan
2018
Esperanza en Armonia, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba
An Act of Balance, Skoto Gallery, NYC, NY
2017
Nanette Carter, Alessandro Berni Gallery, Perugia, Italy
2016
Nanette Carter, Gallery Ami & Kanoko, Osaka, Japan
2014
Constructions:Textural Collages, G. R. N’Namdi
2012
In the Garden: The Animist, N'Namdi Contemporary, Miami, FL
2008
Aqueous, G. R. N'Namdi Gallery, Chicago, IL
2007
Nanette Carter, Kozah Art Gallery, Damascus, Syria