Paul Smith - An Extraordinary Man

Paul Smith, the man with extraordinary talent was born in Philadelphia on 21 September 1921, with severe cerebral palsy. Not only had Paul beaten the odds of life with spastic cerebral palsy, a disability that impeded his speech and mobility, but also taught himself to become a master artist as well as a terrific chess player even after being devoid of a formal education as a child.
When typing Paul used his left hand to steady his right one. Since he couldn't pres two keys at the same time, he almost always locked the shift key down and made his pictures using the symbols at the top of the number keys. In other words, his pictures were based on these characters...@ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ .
Across seven decades, Paul created hundreds of pictures of which he often gave the originals away, Sometimes, but not always, he kept or received a copy for his own records.
As his mastery of the typewriter grew, he developed techniques to create shadings, colours and textures that made his work resemble pencil or charcoal drawings.
This great man passed away on 25 June 2007, but left behind a collection of his amazing artwork that will be an inspiration for many.

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You can see some examples of Paul Smith's artwork in the article immediately following this. Further articles showing more of his incredible work will appear in the Journal over the next few days.

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