Description:
A photographic fever dream of America's Midwest, from the author of Homegrown and Domestic Vacations
For her third monograph, Midwest Materials, Julie Blackmon has created a new body of work that sparkles with the wit, dark humor and irony for which the photographer has gained such renown. Finding insight and inspiration in the seeming monotony of her "generic American hometown" of Springfield, Missouri, Blackmon constructs a captivating, fictitious world that is both playful and menacing. "I think of myself as a visual artist working in the medium of photography," Blackmon notes, "and my assignment is to chart the fever dreams of American life." Midwest Materials follows Domestic Vacations (Radius Books, 2008) and Homegrown (Radius Books, 2014).
Julie Blackmon (born 1966) pursued studies in art education and photography at Missouri State University. Her photographs are included in the permanent collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art; George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Toledo Museum of Art; Portland Art Museum; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; and numerous others. She is represented by Robert Mann Gallery, Haw Contemporary and Fahey Klein, among others. Blackmon lives and works in Springfield, Missouri.
Review Quotes: Julie and her daughter make Springfield look beautiful and otherworldly at the same time, and their careers illustrate that a city far from the cultural capitals may offer the necessary brain space and inspiration for working artists.--Steven Kurutz "New York Times: Style"