Binford Taylor Carter, Jr., known as Benny Carter or Bennie Carter, (November 29, 1943 – February 2, 2014) was an American contemporary visual artist. His primary focus was as a painter and sculptor within the genres of
folk art
Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tra ...
and
outsider art
Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates ...
.
Early life and family
Binford Taylor Carter, Jr. was born in
High Point, North Carolina
High Point is a city in the Piedmont Triad region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. Most of the city is in Guilford County, with parts extending into Randolph, Davidson, and Forsyth counties. High Point is North Carolina's only city t ...
, on November 29, 1943, to Binford Taylor Carter, Sr. and Mary Sue Young. He grew up in
Madison with his sister, Rebecca (now Rebecca Carter Paff). His paternal grandparents, Yancey Ligon Carter and Mary Elizabeth Morton, were prominent tobacco farmers in
Rockingham County. Carter is a descendant of the colonist
Thomas Carter, a Puritan minister of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
. A branch of the Carter family later moved to the south and became
planters
Planters Nut & Chocolate Company is an American snack food company now owned by Hormel Foods. Planters is best known for its processed nuts and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them. Mr. Peanut was created by grade schooler Antonio Gent ...
, owning the
Carter Plantation near
Wentworth in Rockingham County.
Carter was a first cousin of photographer
Carol M. Highsmith and journalist
Linda Carter Brinson
Linda Sue Carter Brinson (born June 25, 1948) is an American writer, journalist, and editor. She was the first woman assistant national editor at ''The Baltimore Sun'' and the first woman editorial page editor at the ''Winston-Salem Journal''.
...
, and a nephew of Lieutenant-Colonel
James Pratt Carter. He was raised in the
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul com ...
faith. He graduated from
Madison-Mayodan High School
Dalton L. McMichael High School is a public high school located in Mayodan, North Carolina.
History
The school was established as a merger of Madison-Mayodan and Stoneville high schools. Athletic programs of the two former schools (formerly the ...
in 1962. After finishing school, Carter worked as a supervisor at Halstead Metal Products in
Pine Hall.
Career
Carter, who was suffering from
depression, began painting in 1991 after he lost his job at Halstead Metal Products due to a layoff.
A self-trained artist, he painted mainly in the contemporary style and has been classified as a
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
and
outsider art
Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates ...
ist.
[ The subjects of his work included waterfront landscapes, Biblical stories, and farm landscapes. Carter also designed birdhouses, clocks, totems, and metal sculptures.][ His later work featured paintings of New York City imagery including skylines, taxi cabs, and the ]Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, a ...
. He created a collection of work depicting New York City after the September 11 attacks, featuring scenes of the attack and memorials to the victims.[ Carter's work was influenced by his Baptist upbringing, including a painting that depicted ]Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...
and Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album ...
as Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as ...
and Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
, and a series of portraits depicting Jesus as African-American.[ He also painted a series of portraits depicting the Statue of Liberty as an African-American woman.][
Carter's work has been displayed in the ]American Visionary Art Museum
The American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) is an art museum located in Baltimore, Maryland's Federal Hill neighborhood at 800 Key Highway. The museum specializes in the preservation and display of outsider art (also known as "intuitive art," "raw ...
, the Virginia Museum of Natural History
The Virginia Museum of Natural History is the state's natural history museum located in Martinsville, Virginia founded in 1984. The museum has several different award-winning publications, is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, and has ...
, the Palmer Museum of Art
The Palmer Museum of Art is the art museum of Pennsylvania State University, located on the University Park campus in State College, Pennsylvania.
Collections
The museum has an increasing permanent collection of more than 7,000 works. The colle ...
, the University of Michigan Museum of Art
The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...
, and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts is a museum located in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, featuring several art collections. The permanent collection includes examples of 19th- and 20th-century American paintings and sculpture, Southern regional art, Ol ...
. His work was documented in the books ''Self Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art'' by Betty-Carol Sellen and Cynthia J. Johnson, ''American Folk Art: A Regional Reference'' by Kristin G. Congdon and Kara Kelley Hallmark, and ''Light of the Spirit: Portraits of Southern Outsider Artists'' by Karekin Goekjian and Robert Peacock.
Later life and death
Carter was married to Teressa Lynn Craddock and lived in Mayodan, North Carolina
Mayodan is a town in Rockingham County, North Carolina, in the United States. It is a manufacturing site for Sturm, Ruger & Co., Bridgestone Aircraft Tire, and General Tobacco (ceased operations 2010). Washington Mills Company, later Tultex, o ...
.[ He attended Good News Baptist Church in Madison.
He died on February 2, 2014, at his home in Mayodan. A funeral service was held at Sardis Primitive Baptist Church in Madison on February 22, 2014. He was buried in the Sardis Church Cemetery.]
On May 9, 2014, his estate was auctioned off.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Benny
1943 births
2014 deaths
20th-century American painters
21st-century American painters
American contemporary painters
American male painters
American male sculptors
Baptists from North Carolina
Contemporary sculptors
Folk artists
Outsider artists
Painters from North Carolina
People from High Point, North Carolina
People from Madison, North Carolina
Thomas Carter family
Sculptors from North Carolina
Deaths in North Carolina
20th-century Baptists
20th-century American male artists