Mary Ellen Bartley's subject is books. Her fine art photography sprung into the public eye with compositions using stacks of books or pages in seeming mid-motion as muse. More recently, pages of books or sheets of paper have been used to create abstract photographs as a twist on Bartley's now-classic compositions. Much of Bartley's contemporary photography has a Modern sensibility--clean lines, classic compositions and a soothing palate.
Mary Ellen Bartley's photography has been causing a stir in the Hamptons and New York City for the last few years. Bartley's had solo shows in 2014 at Yancey Richardson Gallery in Chelsea. She's been included in invitational and group shows at the Parrish Art Museum and Guild Hall. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at art fairs including Paris Photo, The Armory Show and Miami Project. In the Hamptons, she exhibits regularly at The Drawing Room in East Hampton, N.Y.
Now, she's added a Watermill Center artist-in-residency to her credits. Currently working on a new series, the plan is to create a new photography series using books as muse that catch her eye from the Watermill Center Study Library. The images are then expected to create a "book of books". Keep your eyes peeled to see how it turns out.
Selections from several series from the past five years were presented in a 2014 solo show at Guild Hall. Click on our slideshow to see photographs from "Mary Ellen Bartley: Leaning Above the Page":
View Slideshow.
"All Night Near the Water from the series Blue Books" by Mary Ellen Bartley, 2010. Photograph, 20 x 25 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
.
BASIC FACTS: "Mary Ellen Bartley: Leaning Above the Page" was exhibited from October 25, 2014 through January 4, 2015 at Guild Hall in East Hampton, N.Y. www.guildhall.org. Mary Ellen Bartley is one of two artist-in-residency at Watermill Center from February 3 - 28, 2015.
Mary Ellen Bartley is based in Wainscott in the Hamptons. www.maryellenbartley.com
______________________________
Copyright 2015 Hamptons Art Hub LLC. All rights reserved.