North Adams, MA: The Artist Book Foundation (TABF) will celebrate the Photorealist artworks of Tom Blackwell at TABF’s Louis and Susan Meisel Gallery in Building 13 on the campus of MASS MoCA. The show runs from February 8 through June 6, 2018.

In 1969, Blackwell began a series of brashly beautiful motorcycle paintings that established him as one of the founders and foremost artists of the Photorealism movement. The myriad painterly possibilities of urban store windows became another abiding interest as the artist captured the counterpoint between the idealized reality within the store displays and the bustling urban life reflected in the glass. Blackwell has stated: “In my Photorealism work, my goal is to reveal something about the actual world and to explore our photo-mediated perceptions of it.” The artist has deftly captured the vibrancy and visual excitement of urban street life for the past four decades and has had solo exhibitions across the United States and abroad.

His paintings are in numerous collections, including the Museum of Modern Art; the Guggenheim Museum; the Detroit Institute of Arts; the Smithsonian Institution; and the Yale University Art Gallery. Copies of TABF’s recent monograph on the artist, Tom Blackwell: The Complete Paintings, 1970–2014, will be available for purchase and there will be a lecture and book signing with the artist on April 28, 2018, from 3:00-5:30 pm.