Vernon Carter with some at his art work.
LISBURN artist Vernon Carter recently held a successful
exhibition of his work at the Engine Room Gallery in Belfast.
In his art Vernon combined sound and vision to create a
unique gallery experience for visitors to the exhibition, which
was entitled An Elemental Symphony'
He creates wooden sculpture, as well as woodcuts, paintings and
drawings, all of which challenge the viewer in both a visual and
emotional way.
There were some fascinating pieces in the exhibition, which
Vernon has described as a form of metamorphosis/transmutation
between man and nature.
Vernon has also composed his own musical symphony 'Passage to
the Inner Spaces' to accompany the works.
Accompanied by a close friend Andra, son-in-law Tom, daughter
Yolande and six year old grandaughter Beata Powell, they play an
amazing range of improvised percussion and woodwind instruments.
For one performance they used a combination of bizzare
Vernon-made instruments, as well as found objects, plus
specially tuned teapot lids, whistling kettle, tubular bells,
toy instruments, bottles, ethnic instruments and whistles, with
the audience accompanying them at times using the rustle of
polythene bags.
He has also composed a more conventional work for violins and
keyboards all to accompany and complement the wonderful and
challenging backdrop of Vernon's own art. Speaking about his
work, Vernon said: "For many years I have, through the use and
interaction of a variety of media, explored natural forms,
human, animal and plant, as a metaphor for the themes of growth
and decay, change and stability, time and space, life and death,
resulting in an ongoing series of sculptures and relief works,
as well as many live works with an emphasis on the use of
sound."
He went on to say: "I consider my sound works as a natural
extension to my visual ones; just another medium and I see all
my work as coming together, a confluence of different forces -
on the one hand those of nature unleashed and on the other the
artistic vision I impose on these.
"We are all, animal, human, plant alike, a part of the same
cosmic dust and as such are inextricably bound to the earth."
