Working with botanical and architectural subjects, Tom Baril creates intimate works that capture complex and unique forms. His still lives display careful attention to pattern, shape, line, and texture, resulting in captivating minimalist compositions. Visually rich, Baril’s photographs both display the rawness of his printing and have a gently luminous, graceful, and contemplative quality.
Baril gained experience by working and printing for Robert Mapplethorpe. Though he has since distinguished himself from Mapplethorpe stylistically, Baril’s experience as a master printer continues to manifest in the perfection of his technique. He draws on both contemporary and traditional practices of shooting and printing, ranging from the “pinhole” camera obscura to silver gelatin prints to digital color processes.
He was born in Putnam, Connecticut in 1952 and received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York City. His work has been featured in Architectural Digest, Metropolitan Home, and The New York Times and is held in several collections at institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and The Brooklyn Museum.
