Julie Blackmon: Domestic Vacations

The Dutch saying a Jan Steen household originated in the seventeenth century and has come to refer to a home in disarray, full of rowdy children and boisterous family gatherings. The paintings of Steen, along with those of other Dutch and Flemish genre painters, are the direct inspiration behind the layered domestic scenes of Julie Blackmon's photographic work. Raised as the oldest of nine children, and the mother of three herself, Blackmon takes an approach to her work that is at once autobiographical and fictional. According to Anne Wilkes Tucker of The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Blackmon has taken a subject that is ripe for cliche--mother photographing children--and through the subtle, digital manipulations, the use of color and highly graphic images, she's given it humor and edge and taken the subject somewhere fresh.

Published to accompany an exhibition held at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York City in 2008, this oversized volume (10x11.75") offers one- and often two-page color plates of superb quality of the artist's richly textured acrylics and deeply colored pastels. The landscapes and cityscapes depict views of New York, the Silk Road, Santa Fe, and the countryside outside of Seoul, spanning nearly 30 years of work. Four short essays are included, with the lead essay by Richard Vine, editor of Art in America. Not indexed, the volume is published in association with Hudson Hills Press and distributed by National Book Network, Inc. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Essay by Regina Hackett. Interview by Alison Nordstrom.