Mary Ellen Bartley is an American artist known for her photographs that explore the tactile and formal qualities of the printed book and its potential for abstraction. Her work has been widely exhibited, including solo shows at Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York, and at The Drawing Room and Guild Hall Museum in East Hampton, New York. Bartley’s work has also been featured in several exhibitions exploring themes of the book and objects caught in transition from the analog to the digital realm. These include Well Read: Visual Explorations of the Book at Photographic Center Northwest in Seattle, Out of Print at the Bakersfield Museum of Art in California, The Thing Itself at Yancey Richardson Gallery, and Ordinary Pictures at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

Born in Bronx, NY

Lives and works in Wainscott, NY

 

Education

BFA, Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase, NY

 

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2017

Reading Grey Gardens, The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY

Library Copies, Studio 5, The Queens Museum, New York, NY

 

2016

Looking Between the Covers, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA

Still Books, Anzenberger Gallery, Vienna, Austria

The Tactile Eye, Project Space, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY

 

2015

Reading Robert Wilson, The Watermill Center, Watermill, NY

 

2014

Leaning Above the Page, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY

Paperbacks, Yancey Richardson, New York, NY

 

2013

Blue Books, Graficas Gallery, Nantucket, MA

 

2012

Photographs, The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY

Standing Open, Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, NY

 

2011

Books, Corden Potts Gallery, San Francisco, CA

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

2019

What is an edition Anyway? McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

Parrish Perspectives, Recent Acquisitions in Context, Parrish Art Museum, Watermill, NY

 

2018

View Find 7, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

Interventions, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York

Spirit of Place, The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY

Picture: Books, Greensboro Project Space, Greensboro, NC

 

2017

La Mère, La Mer, McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

Deveption, Filter Space, Chicago, IL

Art of the Book, Seager/Grey Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

Spring Installation, The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY

View Find 6, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

 

2016

Lux: The Radiant Sea, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York

Ordinary Pictures, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN

The Lives of Books, Dina Mitrani Gallery, Miami, FL

Water/ Bodies, Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, NY, curator: Eric Fischl

A Field Guide to Nowhere, Brock University, Ontario, Canada

Discoveries of the Meeting Place, Fotofest International Biennial 2016, Houston, TX

 

2015

Winter Salon, The Drawing Room Gallery, East Hampton, NY

Off Print Paris, École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France

Cielo Perro Lobo, National Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, Guatemala City, Guatemala

Burning with Desire, Curious Duke Gallery, London, UK

Fotobookfestival Kassel, Book Dummy Awards 2015, Shortlisted Books Exhibition, Kassel, Germany; the exhibition traveled to Fotoleggendo, Rome; IED, Madrid; PhotoIreland, Dublin; Kaunas Photo, Kaunas; Fotobok Festival, Oslo; Encontros da        Imagem, Braga; Book Fair, Goteborg and Fotoistanbul, Istanbul

 

2014

The Thing Itself, Yancey Richardson, New York, NY

Well Read: Visual Explorations of the Book, Photo Center NW, Seattle, WA

John Alexander, Antonio Asis, Jennifer Bartlett, Mary Ellen Bartley, Chuck Holtzman, Mel   Kendrik, Dan Rizzie, and Alan Shields, The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY

Book Ends, Cara Barer and Mary Ellen Bartley, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA

Paris Photo 2014, Yancey Richardson Gallery, Paris, France

White Columns Benefit Exhibition 2014, New York, NY

How One Thing Leads to Another, Critical Mass 2013, curated by Jessica Johnston, Corden Potts Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX

The Armory Show 2014, Pier 94, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY

 

2013

Paris Photo 2013, Yancey Richardson Gallery, Paris, France. Gallery artists: Aycock, Antonakos, Bartley, Heatley, Nivola, Ross, The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY

The Optical, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland , OR, curator: Allan Chasanoff

A Whiter Shade of Pale, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY

Geografica, Fototropia Gallery, Guatemala City, Guatemala

Color and Light, Critical Mass 2012, Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL

New Work, The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY

Joyce Elaine Grant Exhibition 2013, Texas Women’s University, Denton, TX

Spaces, The International Photography Awards + MOPLA, The Loft at Liz’s, Los Angeles, CA

Beautiful My Desire, Wallspace Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA

 

2012

Out of Print, Bakersfield Art Museum, Bakersfield, CA

Anthology, Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL

Equivalents, Photo Center NW, Seattle, WA

Exposure 2012, Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA

Group Therapy, Harper’s Books, East Hampton, NY

Summer Solstice, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY

Contents, Critical Mass 2011, PCNW, Seattle, WA; Newspace, Portland, OR; Rayko Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Portfolio, Corden Potts Gallery, San Francisco, CA

 

2011

Artists Choose Artists, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY

Houston Center for Photography, Annual Juried Show, Houston, TX

Memento, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY

Portfolio 2, Corden Potts Gallery, San Francisco, CA

 

2010

Reader’s Delight, McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY

Excentrica, Longhouse benefit exhibit and auction, East Hampton, NY

 

2009

It’s Still Life, Rayko Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Photo-Op, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA

Invitational, Islip Museum, Islip, NY

Mood Swings, Solar Gallery, East Hampton, NY

 

Residencies and Honors

2018

The Pollock Krasner House and Study Center, Visiting Artist, Winter 2018, Springs, NY

2017

Visiting Artist, Reanimation Library, Queens Museum, New York, NY

 

2016

Project Room Artist in Residence, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY

 

2015

Artist in Residence, Watermill Center, Watermill, NY

Book Dummy Award for Reading Robert Wilson (shortlisted), Fotobook Festival Kassel

 

2013

Photolucida Critical Mass 2013 Top 50 Photographers

 

2012

Photolucida Critical Mass 2012 Top 50 Photographers

A First Place Lucie International Photo Award for Artists and Models series

 

2011

Photolucida Critical Mass 2011 Top 50 Photographers

 

Publications

2016

Ordinary Pictures, exhibition catalogue, Walker Art Center

The Tactile Eye by Mary Ellen Bartley, twelve page insert in Afterimage, The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, Vol. 44 No. 1 and 2, Summer 2016

 

2015

Reading Robert Wilson, handbound artist book, 2015

 

2014

Mary Ellen Bartley: Leaning Above the Page, interview with Ross Bleckner, Guild Hall Museum exhibition catalogue

 

2012

20 Now: Contemporary Photographers, Nagasaki Shaw and Summer Hung

Unless You Will, Standing Open, Issue 17

Fraction Magazine, Artists and Models, Issue 36

 

Press

The East Hampton Star, “The Spirit of Grey Gardens Captured in East Hampton, Jennifer Landes, 9/21/17

Huffington Post, “Books of Grey Gardens,” Erica-Lynn Huberty, 8/11/17

The Sag Harbor Express, “Mary Ellen Bartley Leans Above the Page at Guild Hall,” Annette Hinkle 10/28/14

The East Hampton Star, “Bartley’s Books in NYC,” Jennifer Landes, 10/2/14

The East Hampton Star, “A Thousand Words are Worth a Picture,” Jennifer Landes, 7/26/12

The New York Times, “Artists Choose Artists,” Martha Schwedener, 9/23/11

The Huffington Post, “Artists Choose Artists at the Parrish Art Museum,” Liz Markus, 8/31/11

The New York Times, Arti in Review, “Readers Delight,” Roberta Smith, 7/23/10

 

Selected Collections

Guild Hall Art Museum, East Hampton, NY
McEvoy Family Collection, San Francisco, CA
Parrish Art Museum, Watermill, NY
The Watermill Collection, Watermill, NY
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota