“ Although I haven’t set out to paint historic scenes in particular, I feel drawn to the way Vancouver was before the wholesale demolition and modernization began in the late sixties - when things were a bit grittier and I think more interesting. Rather than attempt to recreate or document - there are plenty of archival resources for us history buffs - I want to capture the drama I feel in Vancouver. There is a boomtown energy - raw and emotional - combined with British tradition and the extreme drama of the rainforest setting. It was here a hundred years ago and always will be...”
Tom paints and lives in the heart of Vancouver’s historic Victory Square in a converted 1911 warehouse. The area, the historic original downtown, provides inspiration and endless subject matter.
Major influences are B.C. Artists Emily Carr and E. J. Hughes but a love of American Regionalists Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton and Edward Hopper is also apparent.
“There is a line I try to balance between the left and right brain. On one side - accuracy of detail, perspective, architectural and historic correctness, precision of colour and brushwork. On the other side is emotional impact, deliberate rawness of execution and boldness of colour. I constantly fight my urge to correct technically towards realism to preserve the original emotional vision. My goal technically would be a combination of the emotional drama and boldness of Emily Carr with the richness, precision and sanity of E. J. Hughes ...”
Tom Carter’s work is now being found not only in private collections but an increasing number of corporate collections as well
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