James Castle

Who is James Castle?

James Castle is a Scottish sculptor and artist based in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. The majority of James' work is carved in wood; but there are also sculptures modelled in plaster and clay, some of which have been cast into bronze.

James was born in 1946, in Aberdeen, Scotland. He was educated at Ealing School of Art, London; Winchester School of Art, Winchester, where he was taught by Heinz Henghes; and the Royal College of Art, London. He is a Senior Lecturer in sculpture at the University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham.

A lot of James' work depicts loosely, or cryptically anthropomorphic animals. He says: "I think one of the reasons I began to use animals as a metaphor for the human condition came from the fact that we like to bestow these creatures with the same kinds of emotions as our own, without ever really knowing what is going on... this 'one step removed' from our reality is of interest to me."1

In early 2010 a retrospective of James Castle's work was shown at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Chicago Art Institute, and the Berkeley Art Museum.

James Castle is this year's invited artist at the Royal West of England Academy. He exhibits with the Compass Gallery, Glasgow, and with the Bohun Gallery, Henley upon Thames.