Tyler Blackwell

Specializing in queer and historically underrepresented artist practices, post-1960s abstract painting and sculpture, and digital media, Tyler Blackwell has worked in museums for over 10 years.

Prior to his appointment at the Speed, Blackwell served as the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Associate Curator at Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston. While in Houston, he worked in close collaboration with the Blaffer’s director to rethink and expand the institution’s diverse and multidisciplinary program of artist-centric exhibitions, publications, public programs, and community engagement. He has organized, co-organized, or presented exhibitions with a range of emerging and established international artists, including: Monira Al Qadiri, Hugh Hayden, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, Rodney McMillian, Rebecca Morris, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Leslie Martinez, Jacolby Satterwhite, Jagdeep Raina, Jacqueline Nova, Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, and Yoshua Okón. In 2021, Blackwell co-curated with Steven Matijcio the group exhibition Carriers: The Body as a Site of Danger and Desire, which featured the work of fifteen Houston-area artists addressing issues of identity, community health, and social inequality.

Blackwell previously held positions at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, where he supported permanent collection acquisitions and the organization of wide-ranging exhibitions, commissions, programs, and performances. He holds a MA in Art History and The Humanities from the University of Chicago.