Richie Carter was born and raised just outside of Kalispell, Montana. Being brought up in a rural community of Northwest Montana, he developed an early sense of adventure and creativity, as one does when the woods are your only playground. As a child, if he didn’t have a pencil or crayon in his hand, he was building or making the latest idea he could conjure up, from tree houses to paper mâché sculptures. As Richie moved through school, it soon became apparent that he had a knack for drawing and painting. His high school art classes served as an inspiring foundation to his fascination with realism and working from direct observation. Just like many artists of the field, he quickly became infatuated with the works of the Old Masters. And while obtaining his BFA in Painting from The University of Montana, he spent a year abroad in Northern France studying the language, culture, and the rich tradition of painting. Upon graduating in 2012, Richie has established his base once again in Kalispell where he works from his studio.
“When I am not in my studio working on large scale still life and landscape paintings, you can find me out on location gathering reference materials, from the backcountry of Montana, to the deserts of the South West, or on the cobbled streets of various European cities. I love to travel and meet people of different cultures, taking inspiration from a myriad of sources. Painting is a universal visual language that breaks down barriers, and I hope through my own work, it can serve to cultivate authentic human connection. My goal is to make impactful, striking, yet simplistic images that evoke emotion and allow a dialogue to take place between the rich tradition of realism and the contemporary reality of our time.”
