Eva Carter has been a fixture in the Charleston art scene for nearly 30 years. Her large abstract works in oil have been described as paintings drenched in color and brimming with movement and emotion. A spiritual connection can be drawn between her paintings and the ambience of the natural environment. Although she doesn't paint the literal landscape, her inspiration is charged by the idyllic setting of her Wadmalaw Island studio where she watches the ebb and flow of intercoastal tides or a fading light on the watery horizon.

There is a balance of energy and grace in Eva Carter's paintings and it is that distinctive perspective that has won her national acclaim. Her abstract expressionist paintings have been included in numerous exhibitions at gallery spaces, universities and colleges, as well as museums throughout the Southeast. Ms. Carter has had solo exhibitions throughout the United States and her work is cherished by collectors in many countries.

Eva Carter is also represented at:

Joyce Robins Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Marion Meyer Contemporary Art, Laguna Beach, California

"For me painting is a state of being, rather than a state of mind. As I work, I respond to each stroke placed on the canvas. The painting itself tells me what to do next. When I get into that trancelike process, the oils just flow."

Eva Carter works in a studio on the intercoastal waterway in Charleston, South Carolina. Like the mix of fresh and salt waters in Charleston Harbor, Carter’s ex-pressionistic paintings commingle diverse life experiences, which include three distinctive stages in her life: her upbringing and education in rural Tennessee, her extensive travels into the desert southwest, and her mature life steeped in the tradition of the historic south. The blend of all these external influences is reflected in Carter’s emotional juxtapositions of delicate tones and saturated hues, from verdant mountain greens, to marine blues, atmospheric lavenders, arroyo beiges, aspen golds, and chili reds - colors that she illuminates with darts of light or penetrates with gashes of black. Although inspired by the environment and natural phenomena, Carter observes that it is not the literal world she conveys but rather her internal response to her passage through the world. For her, that passage includes the depths of her subconscious, as well as her dreams.

"I paint for me, but the universal emotions translated to viewers are the connections that excite me. I don’t have a map when I begin the journey. I just step up to the canvas and let intuition tell me where my brush should travel."

As with classic Action Painting, Carter invites the viewer to join her in the physical act of creation by leaving her gestural strokes fresh and accessible. Viewers connect to her journey through the visible pushing and pulling of paint and in the size of the canvases, which are often so large that they engulf the petite artist and dominate the rooms in which they are displayed.

Excerpt from Focus/Santa Fe, January 2005, Awakened Memories by Susan Hallsten McGarry

Wofford College, Spartanburg SC
Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston SC
City Gallery at Dock Street Theatre, Charleston SC
Columbia College, Columbia SC
Converse College, Spartanburg SC
Eva Carter Gallery, Charleston SC
Joyce Robins Gallery, Santa Fe NM
Marion Meyer Contemporary Art, Laguna Beach CA
The New Gallery, Charleston SC
Roper Gallery, Roper Foundation, Charleston SC
Alpha Gallery, Denver CO
Jan Goin Gallery, Charleston SC
Newberry College, Newberry SC
The Gallery, Spartanburg SC
Charleston Opera Company, Charleston SC
Sumter Technical College, Sumter SC
Wexford Art Gallery, Charleston SC

Selected Exhibitions

Walt Disney World, Orlando FL
LS3P Architects, Charleston SC
Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston SC
Caroll Reece Museum, Johnson City TN
Burroughs-Chapin Art Museum,Myrtle Beach SC
Savage & Savage PA, Charleston SC
Chubb, Atlanta GA
Norrell, Atlanta GA
Federal Reserve Bank, Charlotte NC
Insignia Financial Plaza, SC
Belk Simpson Group, Greenville SC
Cogdel Group, Charlotte NC
Bank of South Carolina
First National Bank, Columbia SC
Wachovia Bank, Charlotte NC
Colorado Savings & Loan, Englewood CO
Integon Corporation, Winston-Salem NC
NCNB National Bank, Charlotte NC
Sweedish Corona Cooperative, CO
MJ Richards Corporation, CO
Mavric Management Systems Inc, Pontiac MI
Radiotherapy Associates, AL
Providence Hospital, Colmbia SC
Richland Memorial Hospital, SC
Roper Hospital, Charleston SC
Doctor's Memorial Hospital, SC
Computer Systems, Columbia SC
Commission of Public Works, Charleston SC
City of Charleston, Charleston SC

Awakened Memories Focus Magazine, Jan 2005
Eva Carter, Joyce Robins Gallery, Santa Fe. Reviews: National Art News, December 2004
High Profile The Post and Courier, January 4, 2003
Native Talent Charleston Magazine, May 2002
Forces of Nature Charlestn Magazine, Sept 2001
A Frame of Mind Focus Magazine, June 2000
Abstracting the Landscape Palette Talk - The M Grumbacher Newsletter, 1994

------Eva Carter's oil on canvas are successful examples of current interpretations of action painting. Each of her large canvases is energetic and vital. Their titles reflect their conceptual basis. "Enchant", oil on canvas, 48" x 60" is full of movement and high drama. The colors are boldly presented in pure reds ranging to orange, yellow, green, with generous use of black. There is a sense of conflict and resolution as the eye moves constantly across the canvas. This is what happens when red meets yellow, and here yellow meets black. It is a confident composition, and of constant interest. "Reassure", oil on canvas, 72" x 66" takes this onto a grander scale with a different palette, mixing ultramarine blues with sky blues and extreme violets.  White and yellow impasto brush work runs down and off the canvas. All of Carter's canvases have this same kind of theater. The patterns of color are similar, but each has a sense of force and intellect, of individual evocative intent. Certainly is true, as Berger (Poet and Art Critic John Berger said: "During the last 40 years, transatlantic painting has demonstrated how there is no longer anything left to mediate and therefore anything left to paint.") implies that there is nothing new under the sun. What remains are individual interpretations on the same human perceptions-isolated, hyper-personal perspectives. This artist, however understands more. She has translated those perceptions into a meaningful experience".

Bobbie Allen, LA Times, 2/21/2003

----- After years of experimenting with various permutations of realism and figuration, Eva Carter found that Abstract Expressionism suited her temperament best. The canvases here prove that her instincts were sound. Strong fields of color form fascinating organic shapes that seem to collide, then melt into ephemeral voids. Carter's instinctively free execution, large gestural brushstrokes, and lyrical slashes of color culminate in a dream-like vision of luminous abandonment. This is not a forced, monochromatic rehash of what has come before, but a refreshing, even if slightly formulaic, return to a school of painting that revolutionized the art world decades ago--and perhaps has the power to do so again.

Bill Lasarow, Continued and Recommended, ArtScene March 2003