Gregory Blackstock
Seattle artist Gregory Blackstock, 63, is an autistic savant, whose work is recognizable for its incredible precision and razor straight lines which he achieves without the aid of a straight rule. Greg creates his unique visual lists using graphite, ink markers, and Crayola on varying sizes of paper. He usually depicts his subjects in categorical fashion of neat rows and columns and often creates very large drawings by taping several sheets of paper together. Greg not only catalogues many subjects with his art, he learns as much information about each subject as possible, and will often include informative and chatty text.
It was in his 40’s that Greg began to draw in earnest. It was while he was working as a pot-and-dish washer at the Washington Athletic Club that the employee newsletter began to include small reproductions of Greg’s work in his own “Blackstock’s Corner.” Greg then began to enthusiastically plan out his drawings based on their publication schedule. His subjects ranged from state birds to state prisons, gardening tools to WWII bombers, and from mackerels to Boeing jet liners. As the newsletter only reproduced images in black and white, Greg didn’t begin using color in his drawings until after he retired in 2001, after working at the WAC for 25 years.
Greg loves music, and is self taught on the piano and the organ, but especially enjoys performing with his accordions on the street. He often relaxes by effortlessly rewriting sheet music into a more difficult key. His mimicry is flawless, and he perfectly speaks the rudiments of a dozen languages, including Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Tagalog, and Czech, among others.
Gregory Blackstock’s distinctive drawings have captured the imagination of art collectors throughout the world. The American Folk Art Museum in New York is considering adding one of his drawings to their permanent collection. Six of his illustrations were featured on a collection of limited edition t-shirts by avant-garde French fashion label, Comme des Garçons, and the Seattle Art Museum Gift Shop has produced a t-shirt using his drawing of “The Artist Supplies”. In 2006, a wonderful book of Greg’s drawings, “Blackstock’s Collections”, was published by Princeton Architectural Press, and in 2007 he was filmed by a German film company for a documentary about savants.
Gregory Blackstock is represented by Garde Rail Gallery in Seattle, Washington.
