Smithsonian American Art Museum

Opinion

Smithsonian Brings Self-Taught Art to the Masses with James Castle

Using spit and soot, artist James Castle communicated with the world. Castle, who was deaf, spent his life in Idaho, using art as his main outlet; he never signed, spoke, or wrote in any direct way.

News

Smithsonian American Art Museum Acquires the Life's Work of an Imaginary Soul Singer

Between 1968 and 1977, Mingering Mike released around 50 albums, each with its own hand-drawn album art, and played sold-out shows around the world. Yet if you haven't heard of the prolific soul and funk singer, it's because he was entirely fictional, but the art was real and has just been acquired

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