Mary Ellen Bartley’s photographs are not about the objects she pictures; blue-toned hardcover books are shot in ways that challenge spatial perception, for example, while a stack of paperbacks with multi-colored edges becomes a geometric abstraction. These transformations of ordinary objects into unique and thought-provoking arrangements of color and form connect Bartley with work by 20th century Italian artist Giorgio Morandi, who famously spent decades painting images of vessels as he explored the possibilities of representation. Begun during a residency at the Casa Morandi in Bologna and interrupted by the onset of the pandemic, Bartley’s new work at Yancey Richardson Gallery features books from Morandi’s library. Like Morandi, Bartley delays our reading of each picture’s components, sometimes by obscuring its components in a way that excites interest in the contents of the volumes and the possibilities of perception.
Mary Ellen Bartley, Large White Bottle and Shadow, archival pigment print, ed of 7, 28 x 37 inches, 2022.
Merrily Kerr is an art critic and writer based in New York. For more than 20 years, Merrily has published in international art magazines including Time Out New York, Art on Paper, Flash Art, Art Asia Pacific, Art Review, and Tema Celeste in addition to writing catalogue essays and guest lecturing. Merrily teaches art appreciation at Marymount Manhattan College and has taught for Cooper Union Continuing Education.
For more than a decade Merrily has crafted personalized tours of cultural discovery in New York's galleries and museums for individuals and groups, including corporate tours, collectors, artists, advertising agencies, and student groups from Texas Woman's University, Parsons School of Design, Chicago's Moody Institute, Cooper Union Continuing Education, Hunter College Continuing Education and other institutions. Merrily's tours have been featured in The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Sydney Morning Herald and Philadelphia Magazine.
Merrily is licensed by New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs as a tour guide and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA USA)
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