“Keith Carter Fifty Years” will celebrate with a reception to honor the artist this Friday, October 25, from  6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Dishman Art Museum. The exhibition, currently on display, will run through November 28, 2019. During the reception, Keith Carter will be signing books. Patrons can expect wonderful food, traditional blues music and fantastic photography.

Often called a poet of the ordinary, award-winning photographer Keith Carter is known for creating mysterious, ghostly images of animals, still-lifes, portraits and natural scenes all rooted in what he calls the gumbo culture of his native Beaumont and East Texas. This exhibition celebrates his incredible career and features work from his recent publication, “Keith Carter: Fifty Years.”

“For decades my photographs have explored our relationship to time, place, memory, and vernacular culture. I tend to think of them as a visual diary. I often draw from the world around me; literature, the animal world, and folklore to examine externally objective, yet internally boundless themes where our chaotic world is at once both mysterious and ordinary,” said Carter.

Carter’s explorations include the use of the traditional chemical darkroom and arcane historical processes, as well as contemporary practices. In doing so he hopes to examine both the history of photography and our own shared natural histories.

“It is rare that my work is shown in my own region, so I am indeed pleased to be working with Dennis Kiel, director of the Dishman Art Museum, and exhibiting at our university’s art museum,” said Carter.

Admission to the Dishman Art Museum is free of charge and open to the public. For more information about the museum, please visit lamar.edu/dishman.