Indigo Arts | News | Appalachian Visionaries

Sculptor and painter Fred J. Carter (1911-92) was a rare spirit who infused everything he did with personal intimacy. A good artist who succeeded through natural talent and a great deal of hard work, he’s the dominant figure in a four-person show at Indigo Arts Gallery with the unifying title “Appalachian Visionaries.”

Carter, who ran a hardware store in Clintwood, Va., until he became a full-time artist in his 50s, belonged to a restive generation. He showed willingness to confront social realities of his day, and to mold its political consciousness into artistic form — evident in his carved wooden figures with their rugged resonance and appealing textures portraying some of his heroes, and in paintings coldly limning the harsh conditions of miners’ lives.

There’s a vital aesthetic power in physically vernacular, nonacademic artwork like Carter’s, which Indigo specializes in giving its voice. Real human drama emerges in the genuine originality of his carvings.

With Carter is a squad of talents from the southern Virginia/eastern Tennessee region whom he influenced. While Ollie Cox, Shawn Crookshank, and D.R. Mullins share an insistently naive approach to painting, each displays wildly individualized work in this show, which does much to further our understanding of naif art.

21 Oct 2011

Indigo Arts Gallery, Crane Arts Building, 1400 N. American St. To Nov. 5.
Wed-sat noon-6. Free. 215-765-1041.