Blackbird

An online journal of literature and the arts

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Art

Gallery

Cliff Tisdell

Curated by Josh Galarza | Artwork Documented by Gary Spector Photography, NYC

A rectangular painting in portrait orientation in shades of blue and purple. In the foreground is an impressionistically painted person in a trench coat. The top third of the painting features vague impressions of flowers in blue tones. There is a small orange rectangle in the bottom left section.
Wunderkund, Oil on Canvas with Painted Wood Trim, 2022
A rectangular painting of a close-up image of a house's upper portion, featuring windows and architectural detail. The painting is primarily grayscale, but there is a small yellow rectangle in the upper right corner and a small photographic image in shades of orange in the upper left corner. This image features a man and woman in conversation. Beneath the image are the handwritten words "Carson McCullers and Edward Albee 1965."
McCullers: Albee, Mixed Media on Canvas with Painted Wood Trim, 2022
A rectangular painting with portrait orientation in shades of blue and purple. The main painting features an up-close image of a house with many windows. In the upper right quadrant, there is a small photographic image in shades of turquoise featuring a person on horseback. There is a small yellow rectangle at the top of the painting.
Smith Home 2, Mixed Media on Canvas with Painted Wood Trim, 2022
A rectangular painting with portrait orientation in shades of blue and purple. The main painting features an up-close image of a house with many windows. In the upper lefthand quadrant, there is a small photographic image in shades of violet featuring a person holding a dog. There is a small pink rectangle at the top of the painting.
Smith Home, Mixed Media on Canvas with Painted Wood Trim, 2022
Square oil painting in pastel shades. A peach and orange background featuring blue and green smudges overlayed by a small purple portrait of a woman looking over her shoulder, a small pink portrait of a man, a small turquois portrait of a man, a small gray portrait of a man, a gray close-up image of a house with shuttered windows, and a sepia colored image of a small house.
Cherokee Rose, Oil on Canvas, 2022
Square oil painting in pastel shades. A peach and pink background featuring two birds, one nesting and the other on a tree branch, overlayed by a small blue square featuring two row houses, three blue squares featuring images of people, and a turquois square featuring three poses of the same person in overalls.
Bernice, Oil on Canvas, 2020
A square painting with a soft blue background. The barest strokes of peach and brown paint suggest tree trunks and branches in the background. The foreground is an overlayed image in deep blues featuring a boy in overalls.
Frankie, Oil on Canvas Board Mounted on Wood, 2022
Square abstract painting featuring many layered colors. In the bottom left corner is the word "Lula" in turquoise paint. In the upper left quadrant is a small photographic image in violet shades of a person holding a dog. In the bottom right quadrant is a small black and white photographic image of a person on horseback.
Lula, Mixed Media on Canvasboard Mounted on Wood, 2022
A rectangular painting broken into two sections. In the top section is a vague image of a soldier leaning against a wall, painted in shades of orange and red. The bottom section features a row of three barracks painted in shades of purple.
Reflections in a Golden Eye, Oil on Canvas, 2022
A square painting split into three sections. On top is a tan background overlayed by three squares. The first features a person looking to their left. The second is a deep orange color, and the third is a lighter orange color. The bottom lefthand section features a close up of windows on a white house before a dark sky. The final section in the bottom righthand side features a full body image of a woman painted in deep pink tones.
Illuminations, Acrylic on Canvas, 2021
Two painted rectangles, one on top of the other, bordered by a purple wood frame. The top rectangle is bright orange and is overlayed with a small close-up photographic image of Carson McCullers. The bottom rectangle is gray and is overlayed with the word "fragile" in purple paint.
Fragile, Mixed Media on Canvas with Painted Wood Trim, 2022

Wavy lines denoting a space break.

Contributor's Notes

Josh Galarza, lead art editor, is a third-year MFA student in fiction and creative nonfiction at Virginia Commonwealth University. His debut novel, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky (Henry Holt and Company, 2024), is a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. He holds a BFA in art and a BA in English from the University of Nevada, Reno, and is a multidisciplinary visual artist specializing in printmaking, book arts, and sculpture.

Photo of artist Cliff Tisdell seated and smiling.

Cliff Tisdell

Cliff Tisdell is a visual artist. He studied at the School of Visual Arts, the Art Students League, and Parsons School of Design; and he graduated from Rutgers University with a BA in journalism and labor studies. His work is in private collections in the United States, Europe, and Canada; and has been shown at universities, museums, and galleries, including the Edward Hopper House, Carnegie Hall, the Chautauqua Institution, and Ivan Karp’s OK Harris Gallery. Tisdell lectures on the arts, and has brought his Talking Art series to organizations and libraries throughout the New York metropolitan area. He lives in Hoboken, New Jersey, and is represented by Tello Fine Art, Toronto. Learn more about his work at clifftisdellart.com, or contact him at ctisdell166@gmail.com.

Art

  • Divine Sparks of Illumination: Cliff Tisdell on Carson McCullers

  • Gallery