Lawrence Markey Inc.

JAMES CASTLE

at Lawrence Markey
San Antonio, TX

May 9–June 15, 2007

Lawrence Markey is pleased to announce our upcoming exhibition of drawings by James Castle. This will be the first exhibition of Castle's work at Lawrence Markey.

Born in Garden Valley, Idaho, James Castle (1900-1977) was a self-taught artist who created drawings, collaged objects and books throughout his lifetime. James Castle was born deaf, and is believed to have never learned to read or write, speak or sign.

Castle worked with found materials such as papers salvaged from common packaging, mail, and flattened matchboxes. He grew up in a family home which also served as the local post office and dry goods store. The works in this exhibition, selected by Lawrence Markey from the estate of the artist and never before exhibited, take as there subject matter Castle’s immediate surroundings. Interior views of, for example, a bedroom or attic, combine with exterior views of the family homestead: near and distant views of the Castle family home, its surrounding barns, outbuildings, and landscape.

This body of work, for which Castle is perhaps best known, was executed with a self-made mixture of soot, which he collected from a wood burning (and later oil burning) stove, combined with his own spit. His drawing tools were crafted from sticks.

James Castle's work is included in major museum collections including the American Folk Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia and the Art Institute of Chicago. A full scale retrospective of Castle's work is being organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, scheduled to open in 2008.

On the occasion of the exhibition at Lawrence Markey, a fully illustrated catalogue will be published, with an essay by Allan Gurganus. Gurganus will attend the opening reception.

Allan Gurganus's novels and short story collections include: "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All", "White People," "Plays Well With Others" and "The Practical Heart." Gurganus studied with Grace Paley, Stanley Elkin and John Cheever. He has taught at Stanford, Sarah Lawrence and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His stories have appeared in "Best American Stories", "The O'Henry Prize Collection" and "The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction." A film adaptation of "Widow" won four Emmys. Gurganus's other awards include The Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The National Magazine Prize for Fiction, The Lambda Literary Award. A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, he was a 2006 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow.

Gurganus's novel in progress, second in "The Falls Trilogy" that commenced with "Widow, is: "The Erotic History of a Southern Baptist Church." His paperback publisher is Vintage Books. A site created by readers can be found at: allangurganus.com