STEVE CARVER

American, b. 1951

Steve Carver was born and raised in Oklahoma; his English/German/Native American family included firefighters, circus performers, prison guards and shopkeepers. He inherited his love of drawing from his father, an amateur cartoonist. His earlier career was spent as a graphic designer where that discipline continues to inform his work. During his tenure as a graphic designer, his clients have included The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, TIME, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Boston Globe as well as many others.

In 2014 his painting Last Creek was the inspiration for 2 one-act plays (Need a Ride by Will Carter and The Postcard by Arthur Wayne Glowka,) commissioned by the Know Theatre, where they were performed later that year.

Carver’s paintings have been shown at Fowler-Mills Galleries, Santa Monica, CA; Anthony Brunelli Fine Art, Binghamton, NY; Herbert Williams Gallery, CFAC, Syracuse, NY; Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY; State of the Art Gallery, Ithaca, NY; Corners Gallery, Ithaca, NY; Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University and The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Artist Statement

"As a graphic designer for many years, I was a storyteller, but the stories I told were not entirely my own, and there was the necessity of making the message clear and unambiguous. With my paintings, I’m still telling a story but the person viewing the picture is an equal partner in the telling.

Word play, like that utilized in the Surrealist parlor game “Exquisite Corpse”, is an important aspect in arriving at a visual solution, whether in one of my typographic paintings or my more pictorial work. This is not painting to a pre-established title, but a way to expand and identify elements I want to use in a particular piece.”