Tyler Blackwell (he/him) is a curator from Fort Worth, Texas. He currently serves as Curator of Contemporary Art at the Speed Art Museum.
His practice centers on queer and historically underrepresented artistic positions, post-1960s abstraction in painting and sculpture, and lens-based media that engage questions of history, power, and representation, and is shaped by experience across university, civic, and encyclopedic museums, as well as kunsthalles. He previously held positions at the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston, the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, and the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, among others.
He is the co-founder and supervisor of the Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program at the Speed Art Museum, a major new programmatic initiative supported by the Sam Gilliam Foundation.
In January 2026, he was named a “Curator to Watch” by the Observer.
Select exhibitions include:
Marie Watt: Shared Horizon (2027/8; catalogue)
Abstract Expressionists: The Women, Speed Art Museum, organized by American Federation of Arts (2026)
Present Tension: Contemporary Art from the Speed Art Museum Collection, Speed Art Museum (2026)
Vian Sora: Outerworlds, Speed Art Museum, 2025, co-organized with Santa Barbara Museum of Art and Asia Society Texas (2025; catalogue)
Speed Art Museum Cressman Sculpture Park, Speed Art Museum (2025)
Crosscurrents: Contemporary Art from the Speed Art Museum Collection and Beyond, Speed Art Museum (2022-2025; three iterations)
Current Speed: Kathia St. Hilaire—Invisible Empires, Speed Art Museum, co-organized with The Clark Art Institute (2024)
Amy Sherald’s Portrait of Breonna Taylor: In the Garden, Speed Art Museum (2023)
Contemporary Art from the South Asian Diaspora, Speed Art Museum (2023)
Current Speed: Angel Otero / Leslie Martinez, Speed Art Museum (2023)
Current Speed: Sky Hopinka, Speed Art Museum (2022)
Leslie Martinez: The Secrecy of Water, Blaffer Art Museum (2023; brochure)
Jacolby Satterwhite: We Are In Hell When We Hurt Each Other, Blaffer Art Museum (2023)
Monira Al Qadiri: Refined Vision, Blaffer Art Museum (2022; catalogue)
Maria A. Guzmán Capron: Forma Seductora, Blaffer Art Museum (2022)
Hugh Hayden: Boogey Men, Blaffer Art Museum (2022; organized by ICA Miami)
Molly Zuckerman-Hartung: Comic Relief, Blaffer Art Museum (2021; catalogue)
Jagdeep Raina: Bonds, Blaffer Art Museum (2021; brochure)
A Time for Action Performance Festival, Blaffer Art Museum and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts (2021)
Carriers: The Body as a Site of Danger and Desire, Blaffer Art Museum (2021)
Rodney McMillian: Historically Hostile, Blaffer Art Museum (2020; brochure)
Jacqueline Nova: Creación de la Tierra, Blaffer Art Museum (2019; brochure)
Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Blaffer Art Museum (2019; brochure; organized by the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis)
Beatriz Santiago Muñoz: Otros Usos, Blaffer Art Museum (2019)
Yoshua Okón: Oracle, Blaffer Art Museum (2019)
Rebecca Morris: The Ache of Bright, Blaffer Art Museum (2019; catalogue)
Speed Art Museum collection acquisitions, 2022-present: Rita Ackermann, Igshaan Adams, Anthony Akinbola, Josef Albers, Rick Bartow, Diedrick Brackens, John Brooks, Lucy Bull, Maria Guzmán Capron, Teresa Baker, Hernan Bas, María Berrío, Sonia Delaunay, Jennifer Dickson, Ceirra Evans, Keltie Ferris, Charles Gaines, vanessa german, Magalie Guerin, Hugh Hayden, Oliver Herring, John Henderson, Patrick Dean Hubbell, Esteban Jefferson, Doron Langberg, Carolyn Lazard, Simone Leigh, Amani Lewis, Sahara Longe, Danielle Mckinney, Rebecca Morris, Ken Gun Min, Leslie Martinez, Rodney McMillian, Rebecca Ness, Virginia Overton, Ebony G. Patterson, Naudline Pierre, Christina Quarles, Jagdeep Raina, Celeste Rapone, Omar Rayo, Nellie Mae Rowe, Jacolby Satterwhite, Sean Scully, Pierre Soulages, Stan Squirewell, Gio Swaby, Henry Taylor, Chiffon Thomas, Salman Toor, Kay WalkingStick, Charisse Pearlina Weston, Jimmy Wright, Cosmo Whyte, Michaela Yearwood-Dan
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Image: Molly Zuckerman-Hartung