"Castle - born deaf on a rural Idaho farm on the eve of the 20th century and isolated from the circuits of the art world his entire life - seemed to have arrived independently at some of the most radical tenets of mid-century abstraction. He combined pieces of scrap paper, sometimes hoarded for decades, with soot bound by saliva to create formally gorgeous works that revel in the way ink ripples across the page, or cardboard can bend like a body."
"Check out the medium line for "Untitled (shooting stars)" (undated): "color of unknown origin on found paper." It's a tiny, unevenly thick piece of paper splotched by a light wash of blue and gray ink, suggesting to me the point where sea meets earth - this, from landlocked Idaho. Indeed, we talk often about the transportive power of art, but these feel literally, almost metaphysically, so - as if we're entering a universe bound by a different set of rules that it's a pleasure to explore."
An intimate presentation in a small Upper East Side gallery displays 14 works by James Castle, including grayscale drawings, color images, assemblages, and text pieces. Castle, born deaf and working in rural Idaho, used found paper, soot bound by saliva, and scavenged materials to produce formally rigorous, tactile works. Small, uneven sheets and collages show washes, rippling ink, and bent cardboard that suggest doors, landscapes, and draped figures without literal architecture. The handmade surfaces and unconventional media generate a metaphysical, transportive atmosphere in which viewers encounter a self-contained visual logic.
Read at Hyperallergic
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