Blackstock's Collections: The Drawings of an Artistic Savant [Paperback]

Gregory L. Blackstock (Author), Karen Light-Pina (Introduction), Darold A. Treffert (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2006

Modern life is an ever-accelerating barrage of people, buildings, vehicles, creatures, and things. How much can a curious mind take in? And what can it do with all the data? Gregory L. Blackstock, a retired Seattle pot washer, draws order out of all the chaos with a pencil, a black marker, and some crayons.

Blackstock is autistic and an artistic savant. He creates visual lists of everything from wasps to hats to emergency vehicles to noisemakers. In the spirit of the Outsider art of Henry Darger and Howard Finster, Blackstock makes art that is stirring in its profusion and detail and inspiring in its simple beauty. He has never received formal artistic training, yet his renderings clearly and beguilingly show subtle differences and similaritiesenabling the viewer to see, for example, the distinctive features of a dolly varden, a Pacific Coast steelhead cutthroat, and fourteen other types of trout.

Each collection is lovingly captioned in Blackstock's unique hand with texts that reflect facts from his research as well as his passions and preferences. Blackstock's Collections contains over 100 extraordinary examples of his splendidly original taxonomy, offering a unique look inside the mind of a man making sense of life through art.

Monsters of the Deep
Major Forestry Pests
The Great Cabbage Family
The Spatulas
The World War II U.S. Bombers
The Buoys
King Sized Jails
Monsters of the Past
Classical Clowns
Great Italian Roosters
Our State Lighthouses
The Irish Joys

Editorial Reviews

Review

(These) freehand drawings offer a unique look inside the mind of an autistic man making sense of life through art. -- Art World News, Feb. 2007

...a nifty little paperback filled with exquisite black and white drawings that make up visual lists... The lists, ranging from different types of knots, buoys, oriental temples, noisemakers, hoes, crows, balls, Irish joys and many more, are comprised of incredibly detailed drawings, complete with captions and notes. This book is a treat. -- Art MoCo

Arranged in neat horizontal rows... these catalogs of the physical world provide a glimpse into the idiosyncratic mind of the 60-year-old savant. -- Metropolis

Beyond being impressed by the thoroughness and precision of Blackstock's drawings, we recognize something of ourselves in them, something that needs to see things put in order, by someone, if not by us. -- San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 19, 2006

Blackstock's collected drawings are a splendidly original and captivating taxonomy... Not least, they fuel an artist's pride that is life-affirming. -- Folk Art, Winter 2007

Blackstock's graphic lists are strange, lovely, sometimes humorous, always specific. . . . Whatever his driving force, his clear voice manifests itself through these visual collections. -- The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 2006

Meticulously rendered, each animal or object's variation within the genus contributes to a visual rhythm that echoes Whitman's lists as well as Mondrian's geometric repetitions. -- Bookforum, November 2006

Since retiring from pot washing, he's able to devote more time to his new calling. The art world should rejoice. -- ReadyMade, September 2006

The subjects are rendered in a lucid black-and-white cartoon style, and the hand lettering invariably exudes a sense of glee. It's clear that the artist is entranced. . . -- cmyk, Dec. 2006

There is a refinement and sense of order in Gregory's drawings that is comforting, and allows us to pause for a moment to perhaps reflect of the expansive beauty of the things which surround our daily lives. -- Elemental Magazine, September 2006

"Gregory Blackstock washed pots for a living for twenty five years, played the accordion to supplement his income and hand drew hundreds of extraordinary visual lists, from hatchets to emergency trucks to wasps to Great Italian roosters. Blackstock is an artistic (and autistic) savant and his quirky and endearing drawings are a must see for anyone interested in visual communication." --Design Observer

Lovingly drawn, obsessively chronicled, Blackstock's mind is at once disciplined and untethered... stunningly refreshing. -- frieze, April 2011

About the Author

Gregory L. Blackstock worked as a pot washer for twenty-five years. He began making his pictorial lists at age forty, and had his first gallery exhibition in 2004. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (August 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568985797
• ISBN-13: 978-1568985794
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #412,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Savant Artist November 3, 2006

By James Q. Affleck

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Greg Blackstock is a former student of mine in Seattle Public Schools.He has sent me copies of his art over the years. I am delighted that he is getting recognition at this time in his life. The book accurately portrays his life as well as his art. Autism is also described in a sensitive and caring manner.I have given this book to relatives of autistic children and have been told that it was a very positive read.Also of interest was the description of the art gallery where Greg's material is shown and sold.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars great work October 30, 2006

By Stacey Walters

Format:Paperback

I ordered this from Amazon and then when I received it, I noticed that the binding was completely falling apart. I returned the book for another and experienced the same thing. I decided to keep the book and just be more careful with it. I saw a copy of this book at a bookstore the other day and that book too, has bad binding. Other than the apparent faulty binding, I really enjoy this work and highly recommend it to everyone.

**Edit: I contacted Princeton Architectural Press about the binding and they acknowledged that the first batch of books had glue issues. They sent me a new copy and it's perfect.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Four and Twenty B lackbirds . . . September 5, 2012

By David R. Anderson

Format:Paperback

Four and Twenty Blackbirds . . .

The cover of this remarkable book of the autistic savant Gregory L. Blackstock's art is from "The Great World Crows", a work picturing concisely and accurately twenty species of crows from around the world. (See accompanying cover illustration.) "Crows" demonstrates the artist's "gift of drawing", a medical term first used nearly one hundred years ago to describe the "extraordinary artistic, musical, mathematical and mechanical abilities" possessed by ten percent of persons with autism.

Now called Savant Syndrome, Dr. Darold Treffert , the author of the book's valuable introduction, states that the syndrome is "always linked with prodigious memory, typically very visual and exceedingly deep . . .within the confines of the interest or ability." Even so, it comes as a surprise that Blackstock's art is all done from memory! Amazing. Take "The Great World Jungle Butterflies," twenty-four distinct examples rendered with the attention to detail you would expect of an expert lepidopterist.

First Published in 2006 by Princeton Architectural Press, the book -- the copy I am working from is the fifth edition -- has elevated Blackstock's work to the pinnacle of early 21st Century outsider art. Blackstock refers to his works as "lists". There are over one hundred all told, most of them in black and white, some of the more spectacular in color. "The Weathers", which he chose for the frontispiece, for one. Check out the "Thundershower." "Colorful Egg Patterns Favorites to Go For", consists of sixty eggs decorated with flags and a number of whimsical designs, e.g." 8-Color Spotted Egg". He uses color for "The Art Supplies" and "The Noisemakers" which includes the "Loud Filthy-Mouth Offender, The Overemotional Dirtbag!"

The book is a treasure from cover to cover. It wasn't intended as a source book for writers, painters, architects or songwriters, but, as they say, if the shoe fits, and it does, wear it. My hope is that the U.S.Postal Service will see fit to commission Blackstock to create a series of stamp designs, say of bird houses or covered bridges or lobster boats. And I have to think his designs will show up as tattoos, if they haven't already.

End note. Blackstock's artistic development and commercial success have been aided by Karen Light-Pena and her colleagues at Seattle's Garde Rail Gallery. Go to its web site for information about Blackstock's new work (you'll love it) and about works for sale. [e-mail]. And, while you are at it, thank them for helping to bring Blackstock's work to our attention. FYI, my enthusiasm for the work is spontaneous, based entirely on its merits. No consideration sought or received.