LG Carpenter

Untitled, detail (White branches on a blue sky), c- print, 16×20, 1997

About LG Carpenter

A wide range of artistic approaches spanning the world of painting, drawing and photography has crafted a singular eye and creative sensibility in LG Carpenter’s immersive vision. A native of Denver, after earning a BA in Photography at the School of Visual Arts in the 1990s, Carpenter settled in New York City to ply his trade, where he went on to work across multiple formats, shooting everything including 5×7, 4×5, 6/7, 2-1/4 and 35mm throughout his career.

From the spontaneous play of light on his subjects to embracing the surrealistic attributes that convey the beauty and strangeness of our lives in relationship to others, and ultimately, to the self, Carpenter collected images wandering the neighborhoods of Manhattan, with special attention on the Lower East Side and East Village, exploring the influence of portrait photography legends like August Sander, Dorothea Lange, and Alfred Stieglitz. He was inspired by the grit of documentary journalism and the urban landscapes that evolved from a combined interest in abstract art, looking to Lee Friedlander and Duane Michals for inspiration.

Without artifice or irony, Carpenter’s work includes studies of the male figure and scenes of gay sex where men were, at times, photographed in graphic black and white, and at other times, engaging the play of light and color. He often turned to prominent artists in the East Village art scene like David Wojnarowicz and Bruce LaBruce to guide his craft before developing his own personal aesthetic.

As the love for drawing and painting became equally important elements in his regular work, Carpenter expanded his use of figurative imagery and abstractions to make photographic-based envelopes, boxes, and experimental optical objects he calls “lens balls.” While playfully speculating with folding images and gluing transparencies into plastic spheres, he managed to imbue mystery and urgency to his works that reveal a love of atmospheric soft focus as well as light, and sometimes threatening, nocturns.

Artwork from this Collection for sale

Below you’ll find several examples of LG Carpenter’s artworks we offer. Please contact us at info@aferro.org with sales inquiries about LG Carpenter’s work. 

Untitled (man on the floor), c-print, 8×12, 1997
Untitled (pink branches on blue sky), c-print, 16×20, 1997
Untitled (man in stairwell), c-print, 8×12.5, 1997
Untitled (man in stairwell), c-print, 8×12.5, 1997

Gallery Aferro as curatorial liaison for LG Carpenter

Gallery Aferro is proud to work with LG Carpenter to help facilitate all research, purchases and exhibition services for his substantial body of work.

For art collectors, curators, scholars, educators, students and enthusiasts, you can now inquire with the gallery staff about Carpenter artworks, as well as access catalogued images and information about his numerous photographic portfolios.

To learn more about this curatorial relationship and how to review and purchase works by LG Carpenter, please contact Gallery Manager Candace Nicholson at cnicholson@aferro.org or Registrar Juno Zago at jzago@aferro.org.