James Castle: A Retrospective by Ann Percy (c2008)
Self-taught artist, James Castle (1899-1977), was born deaf and could very well have been an undiagnosed autistic. Living the bulk of his life in rural Idaho, and with such handicaps, he received little in terms of formal education and was highly lacking in conventional communication skills. Left to his own devices, Castle spent every waking moment obsessively creating art... creating art from whatever materials he could muster... often with discarded paper and cardboard serving as canvas and a sharpened stick tipped with a soot and saliva mixture serving as pencil. While some would call his art "naive", there is something undeniably smart and focused and visionary about it, especially when viewed en masse. A DVD is included with the book that further documents Castle's life and work. Check catalog for availability.
Additional information and samples of Castle's art can be seen here.
- submitted by Tom @ MPL Central