CHRIS CARTER: OUT OF THE DARK & INTO THE LIGHT
A MAJOR RETROSPECTIVE COVERING FIVE DECADES OF WORK. OPENING 7TH MAY 2016.
Information provided by Round House Gallery:
It is over twenty-five years since Chris Carter, already established by then as one of the country’s leading potters, began exhibiting work at the Round House Gallery.
At our first meeting, Chris showed me around his workshop situated in an old brick built building on a farm in Warwickshire. Workshops and studios are very private spaces and I quickly became aware that his had its own unique ambience, enhanced by the slow tick of an old mantle clock, just audible over the mellow sounds of Radio Three. While Chris went to make us a cup of tea, I began looking around the workshop with its mood of strong lights and darks, reminiscent of a Rembrandt chiaroscuro painting. With cup of tea in hand, Chris proudly showed me around his workshop. There were pots at every stage of the working process, photographs pinned to the walls, and an array of artefacts that inspired the visual elements expressed within his work. Eventually, I was invited to follow him up an open wooden stairway which led to a display area of completed work. To the right was a locked door which Chris explained was a stockroom of pots which were not for sale and not for anyone’s eyes except his and Jennifer’s, his wife.
Since then the stockroom has steadily filled with pieces of work which have been put aside and reserved for a retrospective exhibition. I entered this room for the first time last September to view these pots, having been invited by Chris to hold a retrospective exhibition of his work, celebrating his five decades of making pots.
The Chris Carter retrospective exhibition at the Round House Gallery, opens with a private view on 7th May 2016. After all these years a cross-section of some of Chris’s best works are finally coming out of the dark and into the light. They will be for sale for the very first time.
Leah and I are honoured to be offered this retrospective by such an eminent artist. We would sincerely like to thank Chris and Jennifer for their support and kind generosity in allowing these pots to be exhibited at our gallery
For further information visit www.roundhousegallery.co.uk/exhibitions/