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9/5/2009

Amy Blakemore

Museum of Fine Arts MFAH, Houston

Houston-based Amy Blakemore takes photographs in order to explore the ways in which memory both records and transforms visual information. Employing the camera as subjective tool, Blakemore (born 1958) has compared the activity of photography to the process of gathering broken bits and lost objects discovered serendipitously during long walks. "Instead of picking up stuff," she states, "I leave with a flat, squared-off record of things and people in space." Amy Blakemore: Photographs 1988—2008 surveys Blakemore´s mature career with a carefully distilled selection of 36 works, ranging from early black-and-white street photographs to her lushly colored portraits and landscapes.

Originally trained in documentary traditions, in the mid-1980s Blakemore embraced the highly idiosyncratic Diana camera, black-and-white film, and the informal format and compositions of snapshot photographs. At the same time, however, she brought to her practice a rigorous sense of composition and masterful printing techniques, drawing a nuanced range of tones and an exceptional degree of resolution from her negatives. In the mid-1990s, she made the transition to color work through a series of highly abstract landscapes, incorporating elements of the land, sea, and sky. By the end of the decade, a series of family portraits and views of her native Tulsa introduced a new element of intimacy into her work. Blakemore´s most recent photographs concentrate again on the figure—whether randomly captured or formally posed.

"What remains tantalizing throughout Blakemore´s work is her sense of interrupted and incomplete narrative," states MFAH Director Peter C. Marzio. "What at a glance may appear to be a casual shot, on closer examination is revealed to be a mysterious and psychologically penetrating view of the world we live in."

Amy Blakemore: Photographs 1988—2008 was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and curated by Alison de Lima Greene, MFAH Curator of Contemporary Art & Special Projects. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue featuring an interview with Blakemore and essays by Greene; Anne Wilkes Tucker, the Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator of Photography at the MFAH; Chrissie Iles, Curator, the Whitney Museum of American Art; and Marisa Sánchez, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the Seattle Art Museum.

Image: American, born 1958. Jill in Woods, 2005, Chromogenic photograph

This exhibition was organized by the MFAH.

Generous funding is provided by:
Mr. and Mrs. Michael C. Linn

Additional support is provided by:
The Bequest of Edward B. Mayo
Leslie and Jack Blanton, Jr.
Leslie and Brad Bucher
Sara Paschall Dodd-Spickelmier and Keith Spickelmier
Dillon Kyle and Sam Lasseter
Carey C. Shuart
Friends of Amy Blakemore

On view Sunday, May 10 - Sunday, September 13, 2009 at the Audrey Jones Beck Building

Related Events:

Gallery Talk: Amy Blakemore: Photographs 1988 — 2008 (45 min.)
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Thursday, May 14, 2009 12:00 PM
Thursday, May 21, 2009 12:00 PM
Saturday, May 23, 2009 2:00 PM
Thursday, May 28, 2009 12:00 PM
Saturday, May 30, 2009 2:00 PM

June Artful Thursday: Amy Blakemore: Photographs 1988-2008
At the Caroline Wiess Law Building
Thursday, June 18, 2009 6:30 PM

Members Daytime Preview Amy Blakemore: Photographs 1988-2008
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Saturday, May 9, 2009 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Patron-Plus Preview Party Amy Blakemore: Photographs 1988-2008
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Friday, May 8, 2009 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Media Inquiries: 713-639-7554 mwhitenton@mfah.org

The Museum of Fine Arts,Houston
1001 Bissonnet Street Houston, TX 77005

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