James Castle
June 8–July 7, 2018
Adams and Ollman is pleased to announce a solo presentation of the work of James Castle, one of the most innovative American artists of the 20th century. The exhibition will be on view June 8 through July 7, 2018 at the gallery in Portland, Oregon, where in 1951 the artist’s first exhibition was organized at the Museum Art School, now Pacific Northwest College of Art. On view in the exhibition at Adams and Ollman will be significant examples of his work including landscapes, interiors, books, and constructions.
Born profoundly deaf and believed never to have learned to read, write, or sign, James Castle spent his lifetime making art on his family's farm in Idaho. Creating sophisticated drawings, books, and sculptures from humble materials such as discarded envelopes, matchboxes, twine and soot, Castle produced a complex body of work, one that is not only deeply personal, as it intimately documents the artist's life and surroundings, but also provides the viewer with a fascinating glimpse into rural American life and landscape of the last century.
Examples of his sensitive, atmospheric drawings on unfolded matchboxes will be on view. In these iconic works, we find Castle documenting details of the remote landscape–barns, telephones poles, trees and mountains–on one side of the cardboard and the interior of the family's house and barns on the other. In addition, several dimensional constructions of domestic objects such as doors, coats and birds fashioned from cardboard, string and pigment will be included in the exhibition along with a 12 page book made by the artist that includes drawings of the Gooding School for the Deaf and Blind, which Castle attended from 1910 to 1915.
installation view, James Castle
installation view, James Castle
installation view, James Castle
installation view, James Castle
installation view, James Castle
installation view, James Castle
installation view, James Castle
installation view, James Castle
installation view, James Castle
installation view, James Castle
installation view, James Castle
installation view, James Castle
James Castle
Untitled, n.d.
soot and spit on found paper
4 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches
JCas 609
James Castle
Untitled (Redwood tree), n.d.
soot and saliva on airmail envelope
4 1/2 x 5 1/8 inches
JCas 649
James Castle
Untitled (Van Camps Pork and Beans Book), n.d.
soot and saliva with string on found paper
12 page book including cover, 3 3/8 x 3 1/8 inches
JCas 665
James Castle
Untitled (Shed with sawhorse/shed), n.d.
soot and saliva on found paper
5 1/2 x 7 3/8 inches
JCas 678
James Castle
Untitled (Porch/landscape), n.d.
soot and saliva on found paper
6 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches
JCas 687
James Castle
Untitled (Kitchen interior with figures/house), n.d.
color of unknown origin, soot and saliva on found paper
15 5/8 x 21 1/2 inches
JCas 720
James Castle
Untitled (farmscape with totems), n.d.
soot and saliva on found paper
10 x 13 inches
JCas 498
James Castle
Untitled (Coat), n.d.
found paper, soot, string, color of unknown origin
10 x 4 13/16 inches
JCas 724
James Castle
Untitled (Highway with cars and trucks), n.d.
soot and saliva on found paper
9 3/8 x 12 7/8 inches
JCas 725
James Castle
Untitled (two cups), n.d.
soot and saliva on found paper
3 3/8 x 6 3/8 inches
JCas 707