selected works in exhibition, click images for larger view with caption
James Castle Landscapes
at Lawrence Markey
San Antonio, TX
October 28 – December 2, 2016
Opening reception: Friday, October 28, 6–8 pm
Lawrence Markey is pleased to announce our forthcoming exhibition, James Castle Landscapes. This is the third exhibition of James Castle’s work at Lawrence Markey (Castle’s handmade books were exhibited in 2010).
Born in Garden Valley, Idaho, James Castle (1899-1977) created exceptional artworks throughout his lifetime. The Philadelphia Museum of Art presented James Castle: A Retrospective in 2009, showcasing the breadth and skill of Castle’s output via drawings, handmade books and constructions. James Castle’s artistic explorations are distinguished by his use of found materials-commercial packaging, mail, flattened matchboxes-and distinctive graphic skill using modest materials-sharpened sticks and his preferred medium of soot and saliva. Visual and conceptual explorations abound among recurring visual themes and graphic notations.
Landscape was one such theme frequently explored by James Castle. This exhibition brings together a carefully chosen selection of landscape drawings that demonstrate the nuance and grace of Castle’s strongest work. In Castle’s landscapes a fluid relationship between observation and invention is evident. Scale, composition, and perspective play very intentional roles, quite far from naive or arbitrary. James Castle’s formidable drawing talent comes through in scenes that are familiar yet otherworldly, beautiful and peculiar, discernibly handmade yet sophisticated.
James Castle was born profoundly deaf. He attended school from 1910-1915, but resisted conventional modes of communication being taught at the time. By all accounts Castle could not demonstrate a fully formed understanding of written or spoken language. James Castle lived on the family homestead for the duration of his life. The family home was also the local post office and dry goods store, terrific sources of found materials.
James Castle's work is included in major museum collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; The Art Institute of Chicago; Boise Art Museum; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY; Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Milwaukee Art Museum; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The New York Public Library; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Portland Art Museum, Oregon; University of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
This exhibition is presented in cooperation with James Castle Collection and Archive.
This is the second show in our new space located at Pearl, in the Full Goods building.
(Facing the entrance to restaurant Il Sogno, a short flight of steps to the left leads to the gallery, No.104.)
Gallery hours during the exhibition are Tuesday–Friday, noon–5 pm, and by appointment.
To request more information or images, please contact Sandra Weatherhead at (210) 228-9966 or info@lawrencemarkey.com.