Tom Blackwell is one of the founders and foremost painters of the style of realist painting that came to be known as Photorealism. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he became known for his series of brashly beautiful motorcycle paintings. Schooled in Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, he was drawn to the challenge inherent in embracing such a quotidian object as the subject of high art, to the visual possibilities afforded by their reflective surfaces and sculptural shapes, and to their iconic position in our culture.
The myriad painterly possibilities of the urban store window became another abiding interest. “I love the way these images caught by the photograph confound your visual expectations. The way the outside world intrudes or gets invited in by the reflections, whether it’s a chrome hubcap, a rearview mirror or a plate glass window.”
In the store-window paintings what he has called “the serendipity of contrasts” resides in the counterpoint between the idealized reality within the store display and the bustling urban reality reflected on the glass. of the designer and the ambience of its particular urban environment.
The magic of his paintings resides in the artist’s ability to transform the arbitrary photographic information into dynamic and exciting artistic compositions, revealing and clarifying the image while upholding its mystery.
