John Caple was born in 1966. Entirely self-taught, his work belongs to the tradition of English folk art, expressing a way of life and folk stories passed orally from one generation to another in his beloved county of Mendip.

Caple’s family has farmed and quarried in this corner of Somerset since the 18th century. His great uncle, Orion Owen Caple, wrote a set of memoirs in old age from which John derives much of his knowledge of old customs and practices of Mendip land-workers. The artist’s mother, his grandparents and his great uncle, who often appear in the images, form part of the unbroken chain connecting Caple with a centuries old tradition.

Now represented by the John Martin Gallery, John Caple’s direct yet evocative work is appearing in print for the first time with a selection of eight images.