Over and Above #14 1964

Curator: Clarence Holbrook Carter created "Over and Above #14" in 1964 using oil paint, and the result is rather…arresting. What’s your first impression? Editor: Striking! There's a stark stillness to it. The bird, is it a vulture?, peering over that sharp, white edge – it feels like being watched with clinical curiosity. I can’t help but feel a little uneasy. Curator: That feeling is perhaps intended. Carter’s work often explored themes of isolation and observation. Considering it was produced in the mid-1960s, this work could subtly reflect a culture of constant observation. It has interesting parallels with Hitchcock's film, *The Birds*, of the previous year. Editor: Interesting that you say that! This intense focus on a single creature brings forth the grotesque. We cannot forget vultures' social role, or how that knowledge impacts this artwork. We should see beyond the objective form of an "oil painting" to the bird's symbolic valence in the cultural zeitgeist. Curator: Agreed, and the seemingly simple composition – the vibrant red head against that cool blue background, bisected by the geometric white plane—enhances the strangeness. Carter walked a fine line between realism and surrealism. Editor: That geometric edge also sharpens the visual field and enhances our feeling of being keenly watched. It certainly amplifies my visceral reaction. This clinical framing lends credence to our sense of doom. What statement could Carter have wanted to convey? Curator: Carter often explored a sense of the uncanny. Given his exploration of the subconscious, the vulture could be an unsettling representation of repressed anxieties during the Cold War era. Editor: This piece encourages critical inquiry of how social tensions get coded into visual metaphors and public iconography. A portrait, but a condemnation nonetheless. Curator: Precisely. It is an enduring and fascinating paradox. Editor: An enduring, unnerving paradox.