Ian Carpenter was born in Thailand in 1974. He grew up overseas experiencing multiple cultures and their visual arts. When recollecting primary art influences from his early years, Carpenter vividly remembers various colorful paintings from the Caribbean, Asia, South America, and Europe. In 2005, Carpenter returned to painting with a new-found respect and passion. Throughout the years he grew to deeply appreciate modern painters like Paul Klee and Nicolas De Stael, art collectives like the Fauves and The Society of Six, and various outsider artists like Joseph Yoakum and Anna Zemankova. All of these influence what Carpenter does with paint and the waiting surface. His paintings, with their playful use of color, can be viewed as either lyrical abstractions or vague remembrances of dream world landscapes. Based in New York City, he continues to show his work in galleries and has a painting at The Rochester Museum of Fine Arts.