C.J. Pyle is an artist from Richmond, Indiana, known for his unique style of “knotted” mark-making, which he applies to found paper with a ballpoint pen. A daydreamer, his artistic endeavors began when he was at school and he would copy images from his library books, learning about color and technique in the process. During his teen years, he became a very good drummer and soon began playing locally in rock ‘n’ roll bands. Pyle eventually became a touring musician, and his adoption of the ballpoint pen in his drawings, as well as his habit of using LP sleeves for paper, came from wanting to draw on tour and needing to use whatever was readily at-hand. Though he has said that his life makes it into his art, his drawings remain resolutely imaginative and are guided more by intuition, exploration and process than by personal narrative. Self-taught, Pyle has developed an eccentric style that perpetually pushes creative boundaries, as well as a mysterious world that unfolds according to its own internal logic.
C.J Pyle
Corona Voyage #13
2020
Pencil, ink and gouache on verso of LP cover
12” x 12”
Courtesy of Carl Hammer Gallery
$6,500
C.J. Pyle is an artist from Richmond, Indiana, known for his unique style of “knotted” mark-making, which he applies to found paper with a ballpoint pen. A daydreamer, his artistic endeavors began when he was at school and he would copy images from his library books, learning about color and technique in the process. During his teen years, he became a very good drummer and soon began playing locally in rock ‘n’ roll bands. Pyle eventually became a touring musician, and his adoption of the ballpoint pen in his drawings, as well as his habit of using LP sleeves for paper, came from wanting to draw on tour and needing to use whatever was readily at-hand. Though he has said that his life makes it into his art, his drawings remain resolutely imaginative and are guided more by intuition, exploration and process than by personal narrative. Self-taught, Pyle has developed an eccentric style that perpetually pushes creative boundaries, as well as a mysterious world that unfolds according to its own internal logic.
