Awe-Inspiring Typewriter Art – Paul Smith
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Suffering from severe spastic cerebral palsy from an early age, the awe-inspiring artist Paul Smith displayed extraordinary talent in teaching himself to create typewriter art at an early age. The loss of fine motor control of his face and hands made it impossible for him to attend school — let alone eat, clothe, or bathe himself.
Lion and Cub, 1979. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Lion and Cub detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
While severe cerebral palsy made it difficult for him to even express himself and kept him out of school, it didn’t prevent him from having a remarkable life.
He had beaten the odds of a life with spastic cerebral palsy, and went on to become a master artist while being devoid of a formal education as a child.
It took him 32 years to learn to walk, half that to learn to talk, and somewhere in between Paul Smith got his first typewriter and began to paint — slowly and methodically — and learned to master machine, even though he couldn’t master muscle.
A squirrel that Paul named “Fifi” was particularly fond of the artist.
Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Squirrel detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Horse Overlooking a Canyon, 1968. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
He was able to use his left hand to steady the right and thus press the keys. The artist began creating typewriter art at age 15, and steadily refined his technique. Locking the shift key down to make his pictures using the symbols at the top of the number keys, his images were based on the characters, ” @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ ”
Paul spent 2 to 3 hours a day with his art, while listening to Classical music. It would take him anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months to create a single piece of artwork.
By the Sea, 1972. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Fishermen in a Rough Sea, 1971. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Fishermen detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Fishermen detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Over 7 decades, Paul Smith created hundreds of pictures, frequently giving the originals away.
As his mastery of the machine improved, he developed incredible techniques to create shadings, colors using colored typewriter ribbons, and textures that resembled pencil or charcoal drawings.
Flamingos along the Shore, 1955. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Flamingos detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
The Marion in Port, 1972. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
The Marion in Port detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Smith was born September 21 1921, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and moved with his parents to Hollywood, Florida in the 1940′s, where he lived until they passed away.
The artist didn’t publish any works, but his artwork has been collected into several books of art.
Paul never married and had no children. In 1967 he entered a retirement facility.
Mona Lisa. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Mona Lisa detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Mona Lisa detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
As he aged, Smith’s cataracts worsened, and he was not able to create art of as high a quality. He stopped creating pictures in 2004.
From 1967 until his death, Paul lived at Rose Haven Nursing Center in Roseburg, Oregon, US.
He died on June 25 2007, but left behind a collection of his incredible artwork that will serve as an inspiration for all.
Portrait of an unnamed American Indian, 1981. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Portrait of an American Indian detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Chief Joseph (Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt), 1997. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Chief Joseph detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Paul’s Portrait of His Dear Friend Mary, 1986. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Paul’s Portrait of Mary detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Mother Teresa, 1990. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Mother Teresa detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
The Thinker
Typed Self-Portrait by Paul Smith, 1981. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Typed Self-Portrait detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
John Wayne. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Boy Fishing From Bank with His Dog. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Boy Fishing detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Logging Truck, 1980. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Logging Truck detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Family in Covered Wagon Crossing Desert, 1974. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Family in Covered Wagon detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
The Old Mill. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
The Old Mill detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Steam Engine Number 3, 1971. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Steam Engine detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Steam Engine detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Roseburg Train Station, now home to a popular pub with a microbrewery,
McMenamins as of 2006. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Roseburg Train Station detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
World War II Pilot based on a photo of the actor Clark Gable portraying a pilot, 1943.
Photo Paul Smith Foundation
World War II Pilot detail. Photo Paul Smith Foundation
Paul Smith
Paul Smith – Amazing Typewriter Artist
Visit the Paul Smith Foundation website to learn more.
Special thanks to my friend Sly for sending images on this amazing artist.
Source: Wikipedia and Paul Smith Foundation
Tags:art artist artists arts Paul Smith typewriter
Deborah….amazing, as alwways!
Oh My Goodness……AWESOME!!!!! This guy’s AMAZING!!!! and your BLOG is AMAZING…….WOW !!!! Where on earth do you find out these things…….??????? KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!
Incredible work and trully awe-inspiring. It is amazing how the human mind and will can transcend difficulty and so-called able bodied folks waste their lives (not all but some). I ask, if one isn’t Creating, Teaching or Learning then what are we here for?
Eric Pointer
I can’t even comprehend this. I mean that is truly unbelievabe. It is amazing to hear stories like this to show you how the human spirit can overcome. I highly recommend the movie ‘My Left Foot’ with Daniel Day Lewis as it’s a very similar story.
wonderful…. love reading this story… i will surely share this story to my friends…
Awesome arts. This is class A artist.