Chris Carter Collection Opens for Art Enthusiasts And X-Philes

A new contemporary art show tucked away in a sprawling warehouse gallery space in Boyle Heights is sure to draw in a diverse mix of art enthusiasts — and possibly ufologists, cryptozoologists and X-Philes. Opening this week at the Legacy West Media gallery is The Chris Carter Collection, an exhibition of mixed media art from producer, director and writer Chris Carter, best known as the creator of the seminal sci-fi TV series The X-Files.

During a private preview on Saturday, Carter viewed the mounted show for the first time, chatting with guests and reporters throughout the afternoon. The artworks range from large panels and abstracts to mixed media on custom surfboards, all of which reflect different periods of his life and career.

“My artistic background goes back 50 years,” he said, calling attention to a number of ceramic plates painted with spicy words and phrases around the gallery. (He nicknamed the series Hate Plates.) “I put myself through college as a production potter. I have literally made tens of thousands of pieces of pottery.

“I sat at a potter's wheel with eight other potters making about 10 different things over and over and over again. And it was fantastic. People say, ‘Why would you do that?’ It was my first experience having to some great degree mastered something.”

'X-Files' success

Writing for film and TV in the 1980s and eventually creating 22 to 25 episodes a year for The X-Files on FOX, which first aired from 1993-2002, left little time for Carter to work on his art. He instead poured his energy into building memorable characters and alternative worlds and theories — borrowing inspiration from the short-lived 1974 series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Rod Serling’s classic series The Twilight Zone.

More than three decades after the debut of The X-Files, fans still have questions about Fox Mulder’s father, Dana Scully’s seeming immortality, the Smoking Man, the Lone Gunmen and whether the controversial episode “Home” (which includes a storyline about incest and infanticide) should be banned in perpetuity.

Capitalizing on the success of his stylistic niche with The X-Files, Carter also created three more shows for FOX: the dark, supernatural profiler series Millennium (1998), which lasted three seasons; Harsh Realm (1999), the short-lived cat-and-mouse series set in a VR game; and the single-season comedy-adventure escapades of The Lone Gunmen (2001), featuring Mulder’s smart and nerdy pals from The X-Files.

Chris Carter gives an artist talk at Legacy West Media for the opening of The Chris Carter Collection.

(

O'cēan S. Brown

)

His television work both directly and indirectly inspires Carter’s art on view at the gallery. There are dark underpinnings and black humor found throughout the show, which includes the titles of the two 13-foot works — Xanax and Manic — set back-to-back as you walk into the space.

“I really did the majority of this work…really all of this work after The X-Files," he said. "A great deal of it came between the end of season 9 [which ended in 2002] and the beginning of season 10, which was the [2016] reboot.”

For The X-Files curious, off the main room, there’s a section dedicated to original memorabilia from the show. It includes Carter’s director’s chair, a clapboard from the series, magazines and the casting interview schedule.

Carter recalled the best piece of advice he’d gotten before launching The X-Files. He showed the pilot to Rick Carter (no relation), the famed production designer and a frequent collaborator of both Robert Zemekis and Steven Spielberg. Rick Carter had just finished Spielberg’s TV series Amazing Stories (1985-87).

“He said to me, ‘You're not going to have any time or any money,’ which I learned,” Chris Carter said. “And also, if you want to scare people, make sure that the scares are in the shadows in the dark; that the scare is what you imagined, not what you see. And that was one of the most, if not the most, valuable bit of advice that I got because it actually made the show literally what is was.”

There’s also notes for the roles of Dana Scully and Fox Mulder. (And yes, you get to see who else was considered for the roles, including Tom Verica [Picket Fences], Malcolm Gets [Caroline in the City] and Claudia Christian [Babylon 5].) A nearby mixed media work called Typewriter features images of Mulder and Scully composited with other visual references from the show.

Look closely at the interview notes to see who else was considered to portray your favorite FBI agents.

(

Christine N. Ziemba

/

LAist

)

Surfing roots

A Bellflower native, Carter enrolled in Cal State Long Beach first as an art major. “When I got to my first year in college, I had an English professor who had us write a Blue Book essay on Herman Melville’s Billy Budd,” Carter said during an interview at the preview. He still remembers the professor unexpectedly reading his essay in class and saying, “I wish all my students could write like this.”

A light bulb went off for the young artist — who then promptly switched majors.

“I came from a working class family," he said. "And so it was very important to my parents that I was gainfully employed. So I got my degree in journalism my senior year in college.”

An avid surfer since the age of 12, he combined writing with his love for the sport, parlaying an internship at Surfing Magazine into a senior editor role during his dozen years with the magazine.

It’s not surprising then that The Chris Carter Collection includes three mixed media works created on custom surfboards, two by designer James Perse and one by renowned surfer Gerry Lopez (aka “Mr. Pipeline”). Ever the writer, the surfboards, along with the majority of works in the show, incorporate writing or text with graphics.

For his piece Orange, black text is printed on orange foam core with with phrases such as “MIGHT YOUR HAIR FALL OUT” and “MIGHT YOUR DARK SOUL BURN IN HELL.” While Carter doesn’t divulge much about the inspiration or meanings behind any individual works, he does disclose later during an artist talk that Orange is a Valentine to a particular person.

"Orange" is a valentine from Carter to an unnamed person.

(

Christine N. Ziemba

/

LAist

)

“I can tell you [my] two main influences. And when you look at some of the pieces, you'll see the connection. Ed Rucha and Jenny Holzer,” Carter said. “And I have to say to some extent, Barbara Kruger.”

The art show marks the first time that Carter has exhibited his work publicly. Longtime family friend Jim Carter (son of the aforementioned Rick Carter), founder and CEO of Legacy West Media, convinced the artist to show (and sell) his work in the space. The Chris Carter Collection marks the fourth show in the newish gallery, which opened last fall. “I never did [the art] to sell them,” Chris Carter said during the artist talk. “I only did them because they came from my head and my heart. And that I'm sitting here today talking to you, amongst these pieces, is completely unexpected.”

Located in the same room with The X-Files ephemera are three black-and-white abstract images named UFO #1, #2 and #3. Viewed side-by-side, the UFO series unveils a figure emerging from, or possibly fading into, the blackness. Is it an alien? Is it related to the black oil alien virus story arc of the show? Art aficionados will say that interpretation is left to the viewer. But as any diehard X-Files fan will tell you: The truth is out there.