Gregory L. Blackstock was a pot washer for twenty-five years and also played accordian on the street for extra money. He is also autistic. He started creating visual lists at age forty and they are all collected in this book. Mostly they are lists of objects or animals with titles for what they are- The Great Turkeys, The Pianos(Regular and Usual)- and labels for their more specific names. It’s a sort of catalogue of everything he likes although apparently his house is filled with pictures of Hollywood actors. When asked if he would ever draw them he said “What? No way! Forget it! No way—it would be too hard!” But I like the few lists with people in them like The Classical Clowns or The Great American Presidents. I hope he does start drawing more people. You can buy his work at the Garde Rail Gallery which is a gallery devoted to outsider, folk and self-taught artists. Or you can pick up a copy of this book published by Princeton Architectural Press. It’s fun to see what he decides to draw and they are also just really good.

© Julia Rothman 2007