November 20, 2025 – January 10, 2026
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 20, 6 – 8 PM
Ricco/Maresca Gallery presents James Castle: The Architecture of Silence, an exhibition of drawings and constructions by the self-taught Idaho artist (1899–1977). Born deaf and mute and never formally educated, Castle developed an entirely personal way of seeing and recording the world around him.
Working with the humblest materials—discarded envelopes, paper scraps, and cardboard—he created hauntingly quiet compositions of interiors, objects, and solitary figures. His tonal grays and weathered browns evoke both structure and atmosphere; stairs, chairs, and facades appear as meditations on space, memory, and belonging.
Castle’s practice, forged in isolation, occupies a singular place in American art. His works merge drawing, collage, and sculpture, challenging distinctions between medium and meaning. Every surface bears the trace of touch, every line the rhythm of observation.
The Architecture of Silence offers an intimate encounter with an artist who built an entire visual universe from near-silence and ordinary things. These works, modest in scale yet vast in feeling, remind us that art can emerge not from instruction or ambition, but from the pure necessity of seeing.
Photograph of the artist © James Castle Collection & Archive
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Concurrently on view in Gallery One:
Franne Davids: A Theater of Faces
Visit the online viewing room here.
