Downtime is the perfect title for an exhibition of photographs by Julie Blackmon currently on view at Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles. It implies carefree, lazy summer afternoons with plenty of lemonade and ice cream and nothing but happy days.

On the seamless surface of these large-scale images, composed in sunny colors, maybe, but carefree and lazy are the opposite in fact. Blackmon creates  tableau vivantes brimming with the possibility of imminent disaster, with overworked moms losing track of their offspring, who sense in the distracted nature of those adults a sudden opportunity for freedom—to do what they want, completely unsupervised.

In her artist statement, Blackmon writes, “The stress, the chaos, and the need to simultaneously escape and connect are issue that I investigate in this body of work.  We live in a culture where we are both ‘child centered’ and ‘self-obsessed.’  The struggle between living in the moment versus escaping to another reality is intense since these two opposites strive to dominate.”

Blackmon refers to a Dutch proverb of “the Jan Steen household,” one of domestic disarray, with rowdy children and boisterous family gatherings where life and art seamlessly mingle. In her work and life, the artist seeks to fuse fantasy and reality and to “see the mythic amidst the chaos.”

Julie Blackmon, Down Time, continues through September 3 at Fahey/Klein Gallery, 148 North La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, CA. Info  

Photographs, top to bottom: Laying Out, 2015; Peggy's Beauty Shop, 2015; Holiday, 2016, all © Julie Blackmon, courtesy Fahey/Klein Gallery.