Carter Agassi

Painting allows Carter the unique opportunity to view the world in it’s truest and most humble form. Carter’s work is recognized as a reflection of her soul; wisdom of character beyond her years. Growing up as an intuitive creative, Carter had a paintbrush in her hand before she could even walk.

Typically, a painter’s “Palette” is known to be a rigid, flat surface on which an artist arranges and mixes paints; and is designed to be held in the artist’s hand and rest on her arm. In Carter’s case, “Pallets” are the heartbeat of her art. Carter’s “Pallet Portraits” are made from common wooden shipping pallets where each portrait panel is formed from a collection of wooden planks. The distinctive knotted blemishes, nail holes and worn painted markings add to the inherent character of the well traveled woods, transformed in creative metamorphosis into inspirational works of art.

Carter Agassi’s repurposing is a spark of green inspiration and a net benefit to the community, not just recycling but up-cycling for a greater purpose as a custom made plank panel for a painting. Her raw perspective of subjects is translated in the use of distressed materials, capturing the essence and imperfections of life and in people. The artist believes that within the imperfections, true beauty is discovered.

From a curated collection of wooden pallets, planks are chosen for their character. The artist panel is then constructed from various planks of different widths and species of trees. The artist then chooses the proper subject portrait that she feels has an affinity with the visual feel and character of the variegated and textured boards. A portrait starts to emerge from the shadows in the face, the distinctive lines of definition with the wood background acting as the contrasting highlights. Carter has successfully communicated her duality of thoughts regarding her painted subject’s depth and the message of transformed reclaimed wood.

Adding to the depth of her subjects’ storied lives, the wood pallets have a whole other life of travel before being repurposed as art in resourceful style. Each has a history, as does the sitter, an untold story of the places they have been and the products they have carried. The artist's consciousness of conservation has proudly been diverting landfill waste to live on and inspire us, as portrait paintings on panels of pallet planks entirely original in design.

Some of the music legends the artist has painted: Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Bob Dillon, Jim Morrison, Prince, Wes Montgomery, Buddy Holly and Kurt Cobain.

The artist has created works for individual clients throughout the world. Commission works are available.