Biography

Ray Mortenson (b. 1944) is a New York City–based artist born in Wilmington, Delaware. He studied sculpture at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the San Francisco Art Institute and began photographing in the 1960s.   

Using a variety of camera formats, photographic processes, and print sizes, Mortenson explores urban and outlying sites along the northeastern metropolitan corridor.  In addition to making unique or small editioned artist books, he has come out with a number of publications, most noteworthy among them is the 1983 Lustrum Press book Meadowland. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions since the 1980s and is held in the permanent collections of museums around the country as well as Canada, France, and Japan. 

Ray Mortenson is represented by L. Parker Stephenson Photographs

 

Resume

BORN:                 Wilmington, DE. November, 1944
RESIDENCE:      New York, NY
EDUCATION:     1963-65  Carnegie Institute of Technology, 
                             Department of Painting, Design & Sculpture
                             1966-68  San Francisco Art Institute (Sculpture)

 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:

The Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
The Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal
Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
The Museum of the City of New York, NY
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Seattle Art Museum, WA
University of Arizona, Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
Zeit Foto Museum, Tokyo, Japan

 

EXHIBITIONS:

2016 Meadowland Vintage Prints 1979-1980. L. Parker Stephenson
​         Photographs, New York, NY.
2014 All that Glitters is not Gold. Center for Creative Photography,
         Tucson, AZ
2012 DIY: Photographers and Books. Cleveland Museum of Art, 
         Cleveland, OH
2011 Full Scale. Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY
         Contempoary Landscape Photography. Cleveland Museum of Art,
         Cleveland, OH
2009 Manhattan. Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY
         Of Land. Kris Graves Projects, Brooklyn, NY
         Practice, Practice, Practice. Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX
2008 Broken Glass. Museum of the City of New York, NY (Catalogue)
2007 Weak Foundations. Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY
         "Ralph Gibson and Lustrum Press, 1970-1985"
          Center for Creative Photography Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2006 75 Years of Collecting Photography. Addison Gallery of American
         Art, Andover, MA
2005 Landscape/Nature. University of Rochester, NY
         Rose Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
         Cedars/Sea & Sky. Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY
2004 Rocks. Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY
2003 Ocean Views. Microsoft Corporation campus, Redmond, WA
         The Land Through A Lens, Smithsonian American Art Museum
2002 Badlands: Ray Mortenson, Jaclyn Shoub and Susan Dobson.
         Confederation Centre for the Arts, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
        Weeds. Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY
2000 Ray Mortenson. Portland Gallery, Portland, ME
1999 Ocean Point. Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY
1998 Montclair State Art Galleries, Montclair, NJ
1995 Island Pond. Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY
1992 Pleasant Hill. Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY
         Between Home and Heaven: Contemporary American Landscape
         Photography. National Museum of American Art,
         Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Traveling exhibition
1992 Changing Visions of the American Landscape: From Ansel Adams
         to Robert Adams. Michener Museum, Doylestown, PA
        Traveling exhibition.
1991 The Technological Muse, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY
1990 The New Pastoral. Whitney Museum of American Art, Equitable
         Building, New York, NY
        The New Pastoral. George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
1988 The Homeless in America. Traveling exhibition
1987 This is Not a Photograph. John and Mabel Ringling Museum
         of Art, Sarasota, FL. Traveling exhibition
1986 Interiors. Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY
1986 The Real Big Picture. Queens Museum, New York, NY
1984 South Bronx Interiors. Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY
1983 200 Photographs from the Permanent Collection. Seattle
         Art Museum, Seattle, WA
1981 Fifth Annual Biennale. Vienna, Austria

 

PUBLICATIONS:

2009 Manhattan. Janet Borden, Inc.
2008 Broken Glass. Museum of the City of New York
2005 Cedars/Sea & Sky. Janet Borden, Inc.
2004 Rocks. Janet Borden, Inc.
2003 “Bad Lands” BlackFlash Magazine. 21.3 Spring Summer
2002 Weeds. Janet Borden, Inc.
1999 Ocean Point. Janet Borden, Inc.
1994 Island Pond. Janet Borden, Inc.
1992 Between Home and Heaven: Contemporary American Landscape
         Photography. Washington: National Museum of American Art,
         Smithsonian Institution.
         Pleasant Hill. Janet Borden, Inc.
1990 The New Pastoral. George Eastman House, Rochester, New York.
1988 The Homeless in America. Ed. Michael Evans. Acropolis Books,
          New York, NY.
1987 New Jersey. Roundtable Press, New York. 2 illus.
         This Is Not a Photograph: Twenty Years of Large-Scale
         Photography 1966-1986. John and Mabel Ringling Museum
         of Art, Sarasota, FL.
1984 Amateur Photographer. England Article, 5 illus.
1983 Meadowland. Lustrum Press, New You, NY.
1981 Extended Photography. (Vienna: 5th International Biennale)
        Exhibition catalogue
1981 Parnassus: Poetry in Review. 1 illus.
1980 Contact Theory. Ed. by Ralph Gibson. Lustrum Press, New York,
         NY. Interview with illustrations