Tom Baril was born in Connecticut in 1952. He received his BA
from the School of Visual Arts in 1980. In 1979 while still at
Visual Arts, he began as Robert Mapplethorpe's printer. Working
closely with the photographer he developed the lush quality of
Mapplethorpe's definitive works. Baril gained a reputation as a
master printer and began printing for a select group of other artists
and galleries.
Although primarily known as a printer, Baril was quietly making
his own pictures. Avoiding the studio, to distance himself from
Mapplethorpe's work, he focused on the urban landscape and architecture.
Finally moving into the studio with a pinhole camera, he began
to photograph flowers and make still life photographs of curious
objects.
The photographs of Tom Baril range in subject matter from the
vistas found along the edge of the flowing currents of Niagara
Falls, to the views found among the urban structures of New York,
to the highly arranged still life of organic objects, each pursuit
possessing an intimate beauty and the attention to eloquent pictorial
space built upon line and form.
Tom Baril's photographs are in numerous important public and private
collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Brooklyn Museum New York, The
Fogg Museum, Harvard University, and The Center For Creative Photography,
Tucson.
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