East to East: Art and Craft with an Asian Influence

Simon Carter is an artist and curator who was born in Chelmsford, Essex in 1961. He studied at Colchester Institute (1980–81) and then North East London Polytechnic (1981–84).

Artist Statement

"Almost all the landscape I use is within a very few miles of my studio on the Essex coast. It is a landscape of creeks, quays and seawalls, of beaches, saltings and mudflats. It is the last of the Essex marshes before you cross the Stour and head north into Suffolk.

I have several regular routes that I walk, usually along the seawalls. I carry with me an A4 sketch pad and a small tin of graphite sticks and crayons. I am not very interested in the idea of selecting a subject or of setting up to paint. I just want to respond quickly to things seen, often returning to the same spot month after month, enjoying the quiet, seeing what comes to light, hoping for the unexpected.

In the studio the drawings become source material for the paintings. The drawings are examined and dissected and, in a real sense, they become the subject of the paintings. Painting is a long process of improvised try-outs, putting something up for examination, scraping it out or covering it over, repeating, waiting for the moment that something happens and starts to speak."

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