Julie Blackmon

Bio

Reviewing the photographs of Julie Blackmon, critic Leah Ollman of the Los Angeles Times wrote: “Each frame is an absorbing, meticulously orchestrated slice of ethnographic theater … that abounds with tender humor but also shrewdly subtle satire.”

Blackmon is a native of Springfield, MO, and her photographs are inspired by her experience of growing up the oldest of nine children—including five sisters—in what she calls “a generic American town in the middle of the U.S.”

In college, Blackmon was introduced to the work of artists Sally Mann, Diane Arbus, and Helen Levitt, and she describes herself as “obsessed” with their images. “When my three children were small,” she recalls, “we moved into an old house with a darkroom in the basement. Like any mother, I wanted to take pictures of my kids. But I didn’t want to be just the ‘mother photographer.’ I wanted my work to be more: more penetrating, more artful, more striking, more thoughtful, more a reflection of the times.

“Over the next few years, I progressed from making documentary black and white photographs of my life and the lives of my sisters to creating colorful, fictitious images that offered a more fantastical look at everyday life. My work became more conceptual, as I began to realize that I was not obligated to capture “reality” exactly, but that I could work more like a painter or a filmmaker, actively shaping the images I was creating. This realization—that fiction can often capture the truth more memorably than reality—was a major shift in how I saw the world around me, and it transformed my work.”

“It’s thrilling to see the most common aspects of everyday life as potential stories or themes for a photograph. It changes how you see things: suddenly, a Starbucks employee on a smoke break, or an outmoded beauty shop catering to an elderly clientele, can spark a memorable image. As Nora Ephron once said: ‘Everything is copy.’ At the same time, my photographs began to reveal themselves as capable of functioning in a much wider variety of ways: as social satire, as commentary on American politics and culture, and as critiques of human behavior.

“The subjects I choose to explore haven’t changed much: my nieces and nephews still act as my personal troupe of players as I explore the lives of children. Their lack of artifice brings welcome surprise and improvisation to my scenes. And I remain interested in the nature of neighborhoods and communities, and in the joys and sorrows of family life. But the eye behind the lens has changed: more and more, I am using my images as social commentary, from tackling global warming in my 2017 piece “Fake Weather” to capturing Covid anxiety in 2020’s “Bubble”. Someone once described my work as ‘One part Norman Rockwell and one part Norman Bates.’ I’ll take that!”

Blackmon’s photographs are in many permanent collections, including The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA; JP Morgan Chase Art Collection; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO;; Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond, WA; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA; Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, IA; University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Ark; The West Collection, Oaks, PA; and Walt Disney Corporation. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Fotografiska Museum in New York City; Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY; Houston Center of Photography, Houston, TX; the Hood Museum of Art in Dartmouth, N.H., and many other institutions.

Solo Exhibitions

2022 Metaverse, Haw Contemporary, Kansas City, MO (details)

2020 Improvising, Haw Contemporary, Kansas City, MO

2020 Fever Dreams, Fotografiska, New York, NY

2019 Midwest Materials, Brick City Gallery, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO

2018 Midwest Materials, Special exhibition presented by Robert Mann Gallery in Bentonville, AR

2018 Fake Weather, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, MA

2017 Fake Weather, Robert Mann Gallery, New York, NY

2017 Julie Blackmon: The Everyday Fantastic, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, NH

2016 Down Time, Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2014 Free Range, Robert Mann Gallery, New York, NY

2013 Homegrown, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL

2013 Undertow, Gail Gibson Gallery, Seattle, WA

2012 Day Tripping, Robert Mann Gallery, NY

2012 Other Tales from Home, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY

2012 New Work, Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2012 The Power of Now and Other Tales from Home, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX

2011 Julie Blackmon, The Art Museum at the University of Kentucky

2011 Domestic Vacations, Hammer Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland

2011 Julie Blackmon, Springfield Public Art, Springfield, MO

2011 Domestic Vacations, George A. Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin, MO

2010 Julie Blackmon, Pool Art Center Gallery, Drury University, Springfield, MO

2010 Line-Up, Robert Mann Gallery, New York, NY

2010 Julie Blackmon, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, MA

2009 Domestic Vacations, Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2009 Domestic Vacations, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA

2009 New Photographs, Gail Gibson Gallery, Seattle, WA

2008 Domestic Vacations, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY

2008 Domestic Vacations, Gail Gibson Gallery, Seattle, WA

2008 Domestic Vacations, Photoeye Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2008 Domestic Vacations, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL

2007 Domestic Vacations, Gail Gibson Gallery, Seattle, WA

2007 Suspicious Origins, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY

2006 Domestic Vacations, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL

2006 Julie Blackmon, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR

2006 Julie Blackmon, Photoeye Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2006 Good Girl Art Gallery, Springfield, MO

2006 Arts Center of the Ozarks, Fayettville, AR

2005 University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR

2005 Relativity, Pool Art Center, Drury University, Springfield, MO

2003 Mind Games, Randy Bacon Photography, Springfield, MO

2003 Mind Games, Discovery Center of Springfield, Springfield, MO

Selected Group Exhibitions

2020 Fact and Fiction in Contemporary Photography, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE

2019 Tread Lightly, G. Gibson Gallery, Seattle, WA

2018 Adubon, Then and Now, Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover DE

2016 Back at the Water’s Edge, Robert Mann Gallery, New York, NY

2014 State of the Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AK

2014 Framed & Ready, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL

2012 What I Was Thinking: 25 Year Anniversary, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL

2012 New Artists | New Works, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, UK

2011 At the Water’s Edge, Robert Mann Gallery, New York, NY

2011 Still.Life, Jennifer Schwartz Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2010 Constructed Spaces: Contemporary Color Photography, Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD

2010 Proof, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL

2010 Hide in Seek: Picturing Childhood, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO

2008 Presumed Innocent, DeCordova Museum, Boston, MA

2008 Pure Pleasure, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO

2008 Photo Electric, Claire Oliver Fine Art, New York, NY

2007 KIDS, Brown University, Providence, RI

2007 Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY

2006 Chick Flick, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA

2006 American Eden, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York, NY

2006 Domestic Diaries, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL

2006 Family Pack, Society for Contemporary Photography, Kansas City, MO

2005 Group Portrait, Boston University, Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA

2005 Selections from Photographers’ Showcase, Photoeye Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2004 Current Works, Society For Contemporary Photography, Kansas City, MO

2004 MPP, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL

2004 PhotoSpiva, Joplin, MO

2003 Good Girl Art Gallery, Springfield, MO

Selected Press

Review: Julie Blackmon’s absorbing photography of everyday Midwestern life; or is it?, LA Times (details)

A Tale of Motherhood in Julie Blackmon’s Playful Photographs, Hyperallergic (details)

Homegrown: American Unease, Lens Culture (details)

Julie Blackmon's Surreal Photos Show the Chaos of Being a Parent, Vice (details)

 

Selected Honors & Awards

2008 American Photo's Emerging Photographer of 2008

2007 PDN’s 30

2006 Critical Mass Book Award Winner, for Domestic Vacations

2006 Santa Fe Center for Photography Project Competition, 1st Place, for Domestic Vacations

2006 Photospiva, 1st Place, for body of work, Domestic Vacations

2005 Photospiva, 1st Place, for body of work, Mind Games

Copyright © 2024 Haw Contemporary | 1600 LIBERTY STREET | KANSAS CITY, MO 64102 | 816.842.5877