Carter's work reflects a fascination and unease with the human body as a metaphor for an anxiety of persona, the body being an outward projection and defining image of self. Untitled is set quite literally on a blank canvas. Here Carter presents a profile in the making: his half-finished portraits are accompanied by sketchy forms at the bottom of the drawing, inviting viewer participation in completing the image. Through piecemeal assemblage, Carter attributes his figures with personality traits as well as physical features: through the subtle quality of line, tone, and placement his characters resolve as fluctuating and contradictory personalities.
Though Carter's drawings are directed by an intuitive aesthetic, they evolve from an incredibly time consuming and considered process. Carter begins each work by making his own marbleised paper. Referencing the emotive brushwork of Abstract Expressionist painting, Carter's swirling patters are created through a 'hands off' procedure of dipping individual sheets into a water and oil solution - a process similar to developing photographs. Using these designs as a template over which multiple drawings are arranged and pasted, Carter merges repetitive forms with his 'instantaneous' colour-fields, creating a conceptual symbiosis between the intimacy of abstraction and the mechanisation of pop.
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