Name?
John Carter.
What town do you live in, and how long have you lived here?
South Orange for 21 years. (How did that happen so fast?).
SOMA or MapSO?
I think it’s rather hilarious that this tug-of-war exists! I always heard SOMA for years. I guess someone in Maplewood felt slighted and did the cross-marketing? I will feed the competition and stake my claim to SOMA!
What do you do and what are you currently working on?
I’m always working on a lot of different things. One of my companies, Parker 3D, does large-scale, sculptural decor for shopping centers worldwide. We do a lot of Christmas, but we also have done Ramadan in the Middle East, and we do Lunar New Year with gigantic smoke-breathing dragons and lantern shows in Atlanta and Las Vegas. We have done worldwide holiday rollouts for DreamWorks and other major entertainment companies. We’ve taken all of our theatrical, display, and technology know-how and put it into an interactive photography-based installation art experience called Go Pixel Yourself, which is at The Mills at Jersey Gardens. We combine automated photography with augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence to explore the selfie/digital art genre.
Did you always dream of doing what you’re doing now and why?
Since I was a kid, I’ve been interested in rock concerts, shopping malls, and display windows. All of them as sort of a type of street-level theater. Along the way, I’ve been an advertising artist, a street artist, an installation artist, a mechanical sculptor, and video artist, all basically trying to achieve the same thing. Go Pixel Yourself is a culmination of all that.
What is one thing people wouldn’t be able to guess about you?
I don’t swat flies. I catch and release. And I’ve got mad skills on this. Or, in the 90s I was part of a landmark artists’ rights case called Carter v. Helmsley (yes, that Helmsley).
If you could say one nice thing to the residents of SOMA, what would it be?
I grew up in the suburbs and hated them. All my neighbors did boring things for a living. Now that I’m here, I can’t believe all the interesting things my neighbors do!
Is there anything about our towns that bugs you? Or, if you could change one thing, what would it be?
All of these interesting people can sometimes be competitive and self-obsessed, you know, like talking about themselves in interviews!
What’s your favorite restaurant in SOMA?
Jackie and Sons for breakfast or lunch. One of our daughters works there in the summers so we know their commitment to quality and freshness–and deliciousness! Bistro d’Azur for dinner. New York City-level dining right here at home. Fond memories of picking up Thanksgiving dinner during the pandemic.
