Xxavier Edward Carter: Circulate
April 17 - May 15,2021
From Cluley Projects: "Carter will present an exhibition of seven new works on paper investigating the experience of abstraction as seen through themes of legacy, luxury, nature, and society. By collaging financial documents, legal paperwork, waste paper, newspaper, and magazines, Carter carefully obscures the traces that give these documents meaning. In doing so what is left are layers of redactions, color fields, and erasures creating a pattern of recognizable but unknowable shapes. After being rendered meaningless, Carter painstakingly draws and paints onto the newly blank canvass a world of possibility. Stylistically akin to the works of abstract artists like Alma Thomas and Jack Witten and their methodical mark making and references to the human body, Carter creates these works as a commentary on material culture and its waste and want. Carter describes his work saying, “These (works) are a kind of accounting for what really has little value beyond proving ownership in a very self-satisfying kind of way and a very abstract way of considering wealth. It’s not the flex of having the item but the serial number that proves authenticity, that these things are unique to the owner, and that ownership elevates the owner in society, that having things makes you more entitled to having things, when really you have the right kind of paper trail. For me the interesting thing is breaking apart this logic. Its meditative but also a foundational part of my practice as an artist that has a social message to their work.” Carter’s exhibition will run through May 15th. About Xxavier Carter Xxavier Edward Carter (born 1986, Dallas, Texas) is a transdisciplinary artist with a BFA from Stanford University and an MFA from Southern Methodist University. His work is presented as videos, publications, installations, and performances to encompass multi-sensorial and layered circumstances encountered by the artist. Personal interactions, media bombardment, observed and lived experiences, and material excess/waste influence his work towards a complex revolutionary promise. These are ecologically centered works often heavily linked to the material history of currency in how it relates to the histories of marginalized people. Carter is of Black and Native American heritage and views his work as a continuation of the survival and storytelling practices of these cultures. More broadly, he is interested in how these practices have analogies across cultures worldwide. Stories of origins, the afterlife, superhuman beings, and of love and tragedy are the most compelling for him. Carter creates work dealing with what these stories mean in an often violent and oppressive context and the power they have toward influencing revolutionary momentum. About Erin Cluley Gallery and Cluley Projects Erin Cluley Gallery opened its doors in West Dallas in 2014, igniting a creative movement and acting as a hub for visual arts and community engagement. After nearly five years on Fabrication Street, the gallery moved its main operation to Riverbend – a development in Dallas’ Design District celebrating the intersection between culture and commerce. The new satellite gallery Cluley Projects is housed in an 1100 sq ft space on Sylvan Avenue within walking distance from the Belmont Hotel. Cluley Projects will act as an incubator space focusing on regional artists and providing a platform for discovery and mentorship. Contact Cluley Projects Director, Nell Langford, nell@erincluley.com, 469 615 5214"
Artist talk: April 17, 2021 | 12-8 pm
Cluley Projects
2123 Sylvan Avenue, Dallas TX 75208
Dallas, Texas 75208
Get Directions
