20 January – 11 March 2007
Riverside Gallery, Richmond

Following on from his phenomenally successful retrospective Not A Camera at Orleans House Gallery in 2003, one of the world’s most famous artistic autistic savants returns to Richmond to display recent works.

The retrospective in 2003, presented drawings, paintings and prints spanning over two decades, many of which had never been shown to the public before and included recent commission of local views, including the distinct Octagon Room at Orleans House Gallery.

The exhibition, which was opened by actress Jane Asher, Patron of the National Autistic Society, attracted international media and press coverage and 32,000 visitors in its ten week run. Many visitors had taken to their hearts the young teenager who had appeared in the 1987 BBC documentary The Foolish Wise Ones, but few knew what had happened to him since and how he had grown and flourished as an artist. Not A Camera helped to break down misconceptions about autism and Stephen as a passive ‘recorder’ of the world around him and also showcased emerging new talent including Zoe Kakolyris who has subsequently had solo exhibitions in London.

After Not A Camera, Stephen continued creating and has travelled widely – including trips to Europe and Japan last year. He was honoured by the Queen last year and received an MBE for his services to the arts. In the autumn of 2006, Stephen opened his very own successful gallery in the heart of London and visits there twice a week to meet the public.

The new exhibition at the Riverside Gallery in central Richmond carries on where the previous exhibition left off and shows urban landscapes created over the last two years. The showpiece of the exhibition is a reproduction of a panorama of the Tokyo skyline – the original is over ten feet long – and also a panorama of Rome. These new works, on a far grander scale, are bold, confident and show Stephen’s virtuosity and fluid control to the greatest extent.

An exhibition not to be missed!
Original works will be available for sale alongside prints and postcards.

Riverside Gallery, Old Town Hall, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond
Opening hours: Monday, Thursday, Friday: 10.00-6.00; Tuesday: 10.00-5.00pm; Wednesday 10.00-8.00pm and Saturday: 10.00-5.00pm
Admission is Free
tel: 020 8831 6000
websites: http://www.richmond.gov.uk/exhibitions & http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/
email: galleryinfo@richmond.gov.uk

I love most of the books I’ve read, and the ones I haven’t read I hope to read whenever I can. Life’s too short not to read them.

I love your point about stereotypes in the first autobiographies. I did not know what an autistic autobiography was like before 1992, so I opened Nobody Nowhere with open arms. I was also starting to get into the genre, but I had read Helen Keller before.

What do you think of the Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships?

Also, the modern books and the mad books are really great, and I like your choice of Annie’s Coming Out as well.

I would probably add Axel Braun’s book to my own list.

Yes, Birger Sellin’s books were translated in English, both of them. The translation is I Don’t Want to be Inside Me Anymore.

The whole non-English area of autism books is REALLY worth exploring. There is Peeters and Vermullen from Belgium and the Netherlands respectively, and Gunilla Gerland too, who wrote A Real Person.

Tell me more about the Martine Delfos book. Did she go to a mainstream school? And what is she doing in her life? I understand Europeans, Americans and Australians all have a different view, so it’s important to develop a WORLD view.

Amanda, have you ever read any book or poem written by Birger Sellin ( a German autist, writing with FC).
Both of his books are published in the early ’90. I don’t know whether they have been traslated (yet).

Leonie.

Estee