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
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View Find 8
January 18, 2019 to February 16, 2019
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VIEW FIND 7
January 26, 2018 — February 17, 2018
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Recess
July 11 to August 30, 2019