I've always admired the work of Julie Blackmon, and when I saw two of her prints in person at Photo Miami, they took my breath away. Her innate attention to detail coupled with her touch for light create these incredible narratives. My current work is far from narrative, but Blackmon is still one of my photo idols, if you will.
Blackmon has been published in Vogue, London Times, Milk and National Geographic's Digitial Photography. She has had over 10 solo exhibitions and is represented by 4 galleries, as well as a commercial photography agent. She has won several photography awards, most notably American Photos Emergin Photographer of 2008. There is no information regarding Blackmons education available, which is curious.
Blackmon expounds on the above work in her artist statement:
"The paintings of Steen, along with those of other Dutch and Flemish genre painters, helped inspire this body of work. I am the oldest of nine children and now the mother of three. As Steen’s personal narratives of family life depicted nearly 400 yrs. ago, the conflation of art and life is an area I have explored in photographing the everyday life of my family and the lives of my sisters and their families at home. These images are both fictional and auto-biographical, and reflect not only our lives today and as children growing up in a large family, but also move beyond the documentary to explore the fantastic elements of our everyday lives, both imagined and real.
The stress, the chaos, and the need to simultaneously escape and connect are issue that I investigate in this body of work. We live in a culture where we are both “child centered” and “self-obsessed.” The struggle between living in the moment versus escaping to another reality is intense since these two opposites strive to dominate."
Artists Website: http://julieblackmon.com
represented by: http://www.claireoliver.com
www.edelmangallery.com
www.ggibsongallery.com
www.photoeye.com
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