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Lot Essay
James Castle, born deaf and mute, learned to communicate and interact with the world around him via visual and tactile means. In addition to his soot-and-spit drawings, Castle is well-known for his pieced-paper and card constructions, intricate objects that animate forms ranging from furniture, to clothing, to birds.
Untitled is an exceptionally large and stellar Castle work, and it demonstrates both the artist’s modernist aesthetic and his sophisticated use of found materials. A three-dimensional, built-up construction of string, soot and spit, and thick paper and card, Untitled evokes the doors and wall sections seen throughout Castle’s oeuvre, yet transcends these literal references to reveal shape, form and tactility as abstract, visually-engaging constructs of their own.
Castle hung works around his Boise, Idaho homestead in gallery-like displays. He likely used the looped string at the top of this construction as his original display method for the piece.
Untitled is an exceptionally large and stellar Castle work, and it demonstrates both the artist’s modernist aesthetic and his sophisticated use of found materials. A three-dimensional, built-up construction of string, soot and spit, and thick paper and card, Untitled evokes the doors and wall sections seen throughout Castle’s oeuvre, yet transcends these literal references to reveal shape, form and tactility as abstract, visually-engaging constructs of their own.
Castle hung works around his Boise, Idaho homestead in gallery-like displays. He likely used the looped string at the top of this construction as his original display method for the piece.