{"id":4030,"date":"2025-03-06T15:59:20","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T20:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/case\/?p=4030"},"modified":"2025-06-04T15:54:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T19:54:48","slug":"meet-rob-carter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/case\/2025\/03\/06\/meet-rob-carter\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Rob Carter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Assistant Professor of Art & Art History<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

When Rob Carter was around eight, a class in his \u2018prep\u2019 school in Malvern, England, introduced him to his lifelong vocation: Art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was formative, really brilliant in a way! My teacher completely inspired me; unfortunately, he was also a terrible menace,\u201d laughed Carter during our interview. \u201cI was introduced to perspective and began drawing from an early age, which eventually led to my love of carpentry and ceramics, and other creative practices that involve making things with my hands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While studying at Oxford University\u2019s Ruskin School of Art<\/a>, Rob narrowed his focus and began creating very minimal, abstract paintings. \u201cIt was a slightly strange route, I suppose, especially at that age when other artists were trying a lot of different things out, experimenting with mediums and styles, but I was very keen to explore the objectness of painting,\u201d he explained. \u201cThey were single color and super minimalist, somewhat sculptural, and I moved into creating 3D pieces that came off of the wall. I think that being so specific and focused at such a young age \u2013 I was just 20 years old \u2013 meant that I could empty out a lot of the other noise going on around me \u2013 my identity, undergraduate pressure, life in general \u2013 and I could instead put myself into this very narrow band of \u2018painting as object\u2019. Ultimately, it just didn\u2019t have enough content for me, so I decided it was time to try new things and learn more about myself and my view of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Watercolor<\/a>
“I Want To Live”, 2023, watercolor on paper, 11 x 15 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After graduating, Rob spent two years teaching at Tonbridge School<\/a>, an all-boys school in South East England. \u201cIt was very posh, and I was the Artist in Residence there, which was a great experience right after college,\u201d he recalled. \u201cEven though I enjoyed it, I didn\u2019t think of myself as a \u2018teacher,\u2019 and I knew I wanted to continue my studies. That led me to Hunter College<\/a> in New York, where I received my MFA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Rob had always been interested in photography and experimented with it throughout his undergraduate studies, his time at Hunter proved pivotal. \u201cAbout halfway through, I switched from painting to film and photography; it was 2001 and change was in the air, I suppose, and it became clear that my focus should be on digital media and traditional photography. My work now is very multimedia, incorporating some elements of painting, but never fixed to one process or medium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As soon as I got to New York, I needed a job and began working for an artist from Texas, named Susie Rosmarin,\u201d he recalled. \u201cShe was amazing, gave me so much insight into the life of a professional painter, and introduced me to folks in the New York gallery world.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob had flirted with the idea of being a teaching assistant in grad school, but he still didn\u2019t think of himself as a professor. After graduating from Hunter, he continued to live in Brooklyn and found stability working in art galleries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI began working for galleries in Soho and Chelsea, and that\u2019s how I transitioned from grad school into an ‘art practice,’\u201d he shared. \u201cFor the next 13 years, I developed my skills in a practical sense, installing and packing artwork and making my own art at home or in studios around Brooklyn. I also started attending artist residencies, one- to three-month experiences that allow artists time to work and often encourage interaction with the local community in urban and rural settings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n