Mary Ellen Bartley

Photographer Mary Ellen Bartley explores the material and textural qualities of books, juxtaposing volumes of various colors and shapes to create abstract compositions. An integral part of Bartley’s practice involves making work in response to the collections of specific archives and libraries, as in her series Reading Grey Gardens (2017) and Jackson Pollock’s Books (2018), which meditate on the famed East Hampton estate Grey Gardens and the Pollock-Krasner House. While her textual references are important, her work is ultimately formal. The subtle differentiations of the books’ forms and tones are reminiscent of Giorgio Morandi’s still life paintings of bottles and vases, while their stacked arrangements recall minimalist sculpture.