Keith Carter "Giant" is among 48 images in "Keith Carter: Poet of the Ordinary" at Silver Eye Center for Photography, South Side. Carter's subjects may reside in the everyday, but his choice of focus, perspective and composition lift them into an extraordinary realm. Click photo for larger image.

It's tempting to conclude that the entrancing emotive energy of Keith Carter's photographs are a byproduct of their formal cohesiveness, a oneness granted by the many nuances of tone within the artist's black-and-white prints and his preferences of focus and perspective. But that would be simplistic.

The real source of the images' visual resonance is Carter's ability to achieve communion with his subjects, and then capture at least a part of that instant of trust and revelation with his lens.

Forty-eight photographs by the internationally known and much published artist are exhibited in "Keith Carter: Poet of the Ordinary," which originated at the pre-eminent George Eastman House, Rochester, N.Y., and is at Silver Eye Center for Photography.

The exhibition title comes from Carter's own description of his vocation. However, while the images are derived from everyday life and could be ordinary, the way they are treated -- imagined, framed, formed -- infuses them with poetic presence.

To show the variety of Carter's oeuvre, the subjects displayed are diverse -- including people, animals and places -- but they're unified by the artist's firm vision, always somewhat offbeat and sprinkled with a little magic dust during his process. A marionette on a country lane is given prominence by softening the focus on the puppeteer and the surrounding landscape. A resting swan shot from a non-standard angle becomes a curvaceous abstract sculpture.

	Keith Carter "Caballos Blancos," is among a mini-grouping of horse images. Click photo for larger image.

Mini-groupings offer a glimpse of Carter's depth. Four photographs of horses, for example, include a trio, "Caballos Blancos," aligned in such rich perspective that they achieve near-holographic dimensionality when viewed from across the gallery, and "Rubenesque," a sensual and formally powerful work that evokes comparison between the horse's body and an ample nude.

Selections from his "Mojo" series include a couple, "Mud Lovers," who personify a sort of "primordial soup" of myth, while the endearing boys peering into the oversized glowing jar of "Fireflies" represent a timeless event both experienced and imagined.

At times, commanding composition is dominant, as that inspired by the bifurcated coloration of the head of the dog in "Black and White"; at others, trickery is employed, as in "Spotted Apple," a fruit at the center of an angular container that at first appears to be a close-up of a creature's eye and plays off the shape of a camera aperture.

	Keith Carter "Rubenesque," an atypical view of a horse that suggests the human form, was taken by Keith Carter in 1999 and is part of his series "Ezekiel's Horse." Click photo for larger image.

All are 15-by-15-inch prints made from 2 1/4-by-2 1/4-inch negatives. In this day of computer collaging it's important to note that none of Carter's images are digitally manipulated.

Carter, whose mother was a portrait photographer, grew up in Beaumont, Texas, where he still lives and teaches photography at Lamar University. The consummative relationship with the environment in all of its public and subliminal aspects that characterizes Southern literature is evident in the magical unspoken narrative that joins his work.

Carter has said, "I demand opera in pictures. I want to be lifted up. I want to be elevated. I want to weep a bit. I want to care."

Enter the world that he's demarcated ... and let the music begin.

Members Gallery

Silver Eye Members Gallery exhibitions draw from a large pool and maintain a high standard: They're always worth a look. This month pairs Californian Annette Elizabeth Fournet's off-the-tourist-path Eastern European images with backstage drag queens by Evie Lovett of Vermont.

"Poet" continues through Oct. 23 at 1015 E. Carson St., South Side. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and until 9 p.m. Thursdays. Admission is free. Related programs begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, when photographer John Fobes speaks on Carter (free). Others include a live WYEP-FM "Prosody" broadcast, a workshop by New York artist Joni Sternbach and an insider's look at Houston Fotofest by Silver Eye director Linda Benedict-Jones. For information, call 412-431-1810 or visit www.silvereye.org.