Arts: Arts and Culture

The Typewriter Artists: James Cook and Paul Smith

ISABEL WEST | ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR

James Cook has received attention for his typewriter art, creating anything from album covers and book covers to portraits of pets to wedding anniversary presents. The Essex born Cook works on commission creating intensely detailed portraits and architectural drawings. For the past seven years he has produced around 100 typewritten artworks that can take anywhere between a week and a month to complete.

In the summer of 2020, he had his first exhibition at Thaxted Guildhall, Essex where he displayed his collection of 35 typewriters and some of his work. In 2021 his work was displayed at Wonky Wheel gallery in Finchingfield. Cook’s drawings are created using a variety of characters, letters and punctuation marks. In order to create such detail, he overlays the information and the keys are tapped at different pressures to achieve tonal shading. Some of his recent works even feature hidden messages which are visible from up-close. For example, hidden within a commission by a fashion designer of his late mother were little messages from the wedding speech she had read on his wedding day.

Source: James Cook

On Cook’s website he sites Paul Smith as his inspiration. Philadelphia born Smith is known as the ‘Typewriter Artist’, producing his work for seven decades. Smith had severe cerebral palsy which affected his speech, mobility and fine motor coordination, and being born in 1921 was not entitled to mainstream education. He turned to typewriting to express himself when he was eleven as it took him sixteen years to speak. Smith used keys such as -!@#%^_(&), and could only type using one hand as he used his left hand to steady is right. As technology advanced, he was able to use colour typewriter ribbons to layer colours. Depending on the piece, his process could take anywhere between two weeks and three months but wouldn’t charge for his art, instead opting to give his originals to specific individuals and organisations. He was also a master chess player and would apparently stop almost everything to play a game. Sadly, in his early 80s Smith had to stop because of vision problems, but the pieces he created for those seven decades remarkably resembled charcoal or pencil drawings. Paul Smith left an inspiring legacy behind him for others like James Cook to follow in his footsteps.