Conversations with Robert Carter

Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Carter.

Hi Robert, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Art was what I wanted to do as long as I can remember, drawing and learning to paint since I was about ten. To this I added music and an early introduction to Opera listening to the Metropolitan live Saturday broadcasts with my Grandmother. By my teens I was studying voice with a once known Operatic Tenor then retired.. I also decided against going for an MBA so I could be prepared to enter one the family business’ Carter Automotive . A life was laid out for me. I chose instead to go to,Art School and get a BFA and learn to use the tools and knowledge about art I would gain. Upon graduation I was hired into an art department of a national company where I became an art director in less than two years. During this time having nmy one degree I entered the McMaster university School of business extension classes for two years and received my Bachelor of Business Certification. Growing up in a business atmosphere I knew art, music and everything else was a business . This worked well for me. When I painted a painting I wanted to get paid for it and I had no interest in being a starving artist by trying for individual greatness which in most cases never happens. I painted what I saw was selling and used marketing to move up quickly. I had the training, enough talent and the business knowledge to bypass the obstacles of others . This was my start. Unlike those I went to college with wasting years trying to reach a bar set to high or create something new while working at sometimes menial jobs with many actually giving up art I took it one step at a time and saw where it took me. There are so many stories in these early days that I couldn’t even begin to start to tell them. That is a synopsis of my start.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
A smooth road? I was paved all the way and unlike most if not all the struggles never manifested in my life’s journey. Unlike so many in all walks of life it’s a case of struggling to make a success and have security plus in the arts, acting , music it’s also a need for recognition. Most fail. I could never have been a struggling artist because I basically think rather than feel. I was born with the proverbial Silver Spoon in my mouth and chose art and music over a predestined corner office and three piece suit. When I first started I saw the struggles but they were others struggles. One of my classmates had now have a studio in the Artist village and couldn’t pay the rent so I split it with him painted at night and went there weekends when al the people do the Galleries and studios walk where the artists hoped to sell something. I as of yet had no style but I watched and got an idea. For a salable painting. Like all the best ideas the simpler it is the better it works. The other artists were trying to be a Picasso , Dali or something similar. I saw the printing in a store on a burlap bag and came up with an idea to stretch burlap over a stretched canvas where I could use the color as part of the painting. I drew wildlife on these using chalk then I dry brushed the outlines and spots or stripes with the color exceptions being the noses and eyes.
I was painting at least eight a week and selling all I could paint. Lions, Tigers, Leopards , Giraffes, etc. I was now in a place where I could over produce my paintings because the village business shuts down for half the year due to Winter and endless snow which eliminated parking of any type. . I wanted to go to Miami but I was now married to a successful model with acting ambitions do Hollywood it was. For I needed to be where one could work all year.. that is the beginning and it was great.

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Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My life has been Art, Music and business related to them in some way. As an artist I specialize in oils and the subject matter has been to fit the markets. Landscapes, Still Life, European Landscapes, 18th. Century style Portraits, Western, Native American Life Studies plus some things I’ve tried. As a tenor I was good but not great nor did have the interest in chasing a fleeting musical career with a successful art one and I also along with my wife then decided I’d try acting. Not to become a star but for the fun of it. I studied with Ben Bard, Kurt Conway, Jeff Corey, Justin Smith and Eric Morse. It was fun. After a couple of years of classes I decided to go for it. First I needed an agent so I went to Henry Wilson, the top Hollywood agent that had all the stars.. I told him that Jimmy Fiddler said he was the top agent so decided to start at the top and work my way down. He laughed, we talked and he then made a phone call after which me gave a paper. I was to be at MGM the next morning. I had a part on Combat. He then had his secretary give me letter to SAG for me to get my card. I went immediately. Dana Andrews president then and came out of his office and welcomed me into the Guild. I’m the only one I know that bit an agent, a part and an SAG card on the same day and before noon. I have many true stories here but to your question. What am I most proud of? Honesty. I wanted nor needed anything from anyone. This is why I had so many famous and well known friends. I was not as rich but had a Hancock Park home, drove a Rolls Royce and was successful .What set me apart from others, if you’re referring to the arts, I planned and never accepted no adversity. The art career worked for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it and this along with still singing I had s very full life. However as a dinger I saw no avenue for a professional career and business wise I could in no way match the Ease and financial gain of painting..

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I loved LA and lived for all those year in Hollywood, Hollywood Hills and Hancock Park I lived the good life. My home gallery made it easy for people who were interested to view my available works. The people knew that people only imagined knowing and wondered what they were like hung out at my house where they could relax. My best friend Gio Casara owned Le Berge Restaurant on Sunset Blvd. so I spent time there as well as many other Hollywood haunts from Cyrano’s to the !agic Castle. Of course there were also the other great places. The Rangoon Racket Club, the Factory, Candy Store, Bumbles, Pips, My Place and all the other clubs. When you paint all day it was fun to go. I also had several Playboy Bunny girlfriends so that was another thing to like about the city. We used to go Dino’s late at night. That’s on the entertainment side. The other things that appealed were the museums, live theater and endless things to do. We one day went to Malibu for breakfast, drove back thru Beverly Hills and Hollywood up the the snow line above La Canada, drove then to Palm Springs for drinks and back to the city to have dinner. We had ocean, city, mountains and desert in one day. As to my singing, not making money at it didn’t matter as I got to sing any evening I wanted to from The Bel Air Hotel, to Beverly Hills and Hollywod in any place that had a piano. This was topped by the Opera. Labs such as Sarno’s, Luigi’s , Villa Lasagna ,etc. No other city offered so much. What do I like least s out the city….Traffic, traffic and more traffic.

Image Credits
The photos I sent came off my iPad and can’t be added here to be resent so pleas use them