Excerpt:
...Judith Scott’s work initially attracted me because
of its disturbing power as sculptural form. I found
myself being drawn in, but at the same time I was aware
of coming into contact with a mystery – the unexplained,
and possibly unexplainable, issue of what Judith might
be doing. Confronted with her compulsive creative activity
unfolding in a psychological situation where terms like
art or sculpture, image or form, representation or abstraction
could play no part in what was going on, I found myself
increasingly driven to find an explanation.
Judith Ann Scott was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on May
1, 1943. Following upon the birth of her sister Joyce,
Judith emerged moments later, unexpected, from the same
womb. Tremendous pressure was brought to bear on the
parents of severely retarded children to ‘put them away.’
Judith was fortunate, and relatively unique, in being
permitted to spend the first seven and a half years
of her life at home with her parents, her brothers and,
most important, sharing her existence with the person
to whom she was closest, her fraternal twin. The tragedy
was at least postponed.
Untitled, 1989,
30 x 11 x 6 inches, courtesy: Collection de l’Art brut,
Lausanne (left); Untitled doll, n.d., 40 x 15 x
14 inches, photo: Charles Brechtold, courtesy: Ricco Maresca
Gallery, New York (right)