Biography

Portia Munson creates maximal installations, sculptures, paintings, and digital prints, synthesizing environmental and cultural themes from a feminist perspective. Her work has been the subject of over twenty solo exhibitions including at P·P·O·W, NYC; The Museum of Sex, NYC; Art Omi, Ghent, NY; White Columns, NYC; MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA; Oregon Contemporary, Portland, OR; Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA; Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, NY, Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, NY; Disjecta, Portland, OR; and NYU Langone Medical Center Gallery, NYC; among others. Munson’s work has also been included in numerous international group exhibitions including, Angelic Rebels, Company Gallery, NYC; Plasticulture, SVA Chelsea Gallery, NYC; Rituals of Devotion, McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, CA; Still, Life! Mourning, Meaning, Mending, 21c Bentonville, Bentonville, AK, and 21c Louisville, Louisville, KY; Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and our Contemporary Moment, Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, NY; Dime-Store Alchemy, FLAG Art Foundation, NYC; Beyond Boundaries: Feminine Forms, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; PhotograpHER: Women Photographers from the Permanent Collection, Newman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; Bad Girl, wallspaceplease, Dubai, UAE; 2019 Invitational Exhibition, American Academy of Arts and Letters, NYC; Cheeky: Summer Butts, Marinaro, NYC; and Bad Girls, curated by Marcia Tucker, New Museum of Contemporary Art, NYC, among others. Her public works include Pink Projects with the Art Production Fund, Rockefeller Center, NYC; Art in the Terminal, the Albany International Airport, Albany, NY; MTA Arts for Transit, Bryant Park MTA Station, NYC; a permanent Metropolitan Transit Authority installation in Brooklyn, NY; and OVERRIDE, EXPO Chicago, IL. 

Portia Munson (b.1961) lives and works in Catskill, NY. She holds a BFA from Cooper Union (1983), an MFA from Rutgers University (1990), and studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (1987). She has been awarded residencies at institutions including Woodman Residency Foundation, Tuscany, Italy; Cill Rialaig, Co. Kerry, Ireland; Civitella Ranieri, Umbertide, Italy; MacDowell Colony for the Arts, Peterborough, NH; Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA; and Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY. Munson was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2019.

Artist Statement

I am a feminist and environmental artist. For over 30 years I have been creating installations, paintings, and sculptures that reveal and question the meanings embedded in the mass-produced items of our culture. My work is inspired directly from my everyday experiences, focusing on the clash between our materialistic culture and the "natural" world - what is acquired, consumed and thrown away. Both the subject matter and material of my work are castoffs, collected from yard sales and thrift shops, trash from along roadsides and streams, give-away piles, beaches and transfer stations. I amass and categorize thousands of these found objects, then assemble them into densely layered works that emphasize the objects' color, ubiquity and intended function. In my Pink Project body of work I collect pink objects marketed towards women that are also instructional on how to be a woman. When I first put together the Pink Project: Table in 1994, I was struck to discover that these pink objects fell into a limited set of categories: cleaning products, identical girl toys for pets and children, beauty products for women (including mirrors, combs, brushes, hair clips,) sex toys, feminine hygiene products and holiday ephemera for Valentine’s and Mother’s day. My work aims to reveal underlying symbols, dialogues and repetitions hidden in plain sight, transforming valueless “ready-mades” into artworks. I am fascinated by the socially engineered patterns of our stuff.

I believe that the continued pollution and destruction of our environment is the most pressing and dire issue of our time, and for me it is inseparably linked to feminism. I see a lack of respect for our environment, the very place we live, as parallel to our civic discord and disregard for women and under valued groups.

  • Portia Munson

    b. 1961, Beverly, MA, Lives and works in Catskill, NY

    Education

    1990
    M.F.A. Mason Gross School of Art, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

    1987
    Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, MEBFA, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, NY

    1983
    B.F.A. Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY

    Solo Exhibitions

    2023
    Pink Bedroom, Museum of Sex, New York, NY

    2022
    Bound Angel, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
    Memento Mori, Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, NY
    Portia Munson: Flood, The Newmark Gallery at Art Omi, Ghent, NY

    2021
    Memento Mori Mandalas, Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, NY

    2019
    Pink Projects, Art Production Fund, Rockefeller Center, New York, NY
    The Garden, Meridians, Art Basel, Miami, FL

    2018
    Her World/Her Room, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
    Flood, Disjecta, Portland, OR

    2017
    The Garden, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
    Earth Rites, NYU Langone Medical Center Gallery, New York, NY

    2015
    Little Suns, Hollow Bones, Cross Contemporary Art Gallery, Saugerties, NY
    Dear Mother Nature, Mills Gallery, Central College, Pella, IA

    2013
    Reflecting Pool, P·P·O·W, New York, NY

    2011
    Color Forms, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA

    2010
    Portia Munson, Liebowitz Gallery, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Great Barrington, MA

    2007
    Green, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
    Pink Project: Contained, Hemphill Gallery, Washington D.C.

    2005
    Flower Mandalas, P·P·O·W, New York, NY

    1996
    The Garden, Yoshii Gallery, New York, NY

    1994
    Paintings and Pink, Yoshii Gallery, New York, NY
    Pink Project: Bedroom, Hotel, Art Awareness, Lexington, NY

    1993
    White Room, White Columns, New York, NY

    Select Group Exhibitions

    2024
    Angelic Rebels, Company Gallery, New York, NY
    Still Life!  Mourning, Meaning, Mending, 21c Museum, Bentonville, AR            
    Plasticulture, SVA Chelsea Gallery, New York, NY            
    Psychedelic Landscape, Beattie Powers Place, Catskill, NY          
    Bound Rocks & Functional Women, Opus 40, Saugerties, NY
    The Doll Show, Byrdcliffe, Woodstock, NY 
    Twenty/20 Athens Cultural Center.
    Understory, Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, NY

    2023
    Rituals of Devotion, McEvoy Foundation, San Francisco, CA
    Finders Keepers, VSOP Projects, Greenport, NY
    Kaatsbaan Festival, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Tivoli, NY
    Noise for Now, YWCA, Kingston, NY

    2022
    Women’s Work, Lyndhurst Mansion, Tarrytown, NY
    Artists Draw Their Studios, curated by Michelle Weinberg, Marymount Manhattan College, Hewitt Gallery of Art, New York, NY
    Kaatsbaan Festival, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Tivoli, NY
    A SENSE OF PLACE: Artists from the Woodstock Masters Series, Woodstock, NY

    2021
    Still, Life! Mourning, Meaning, Mending, 21c Louisville, Louisville, KY
    Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and our Contemporary Moment, Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, NY
    Bad Girls, wallspaceplease, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    2019
    Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
    Drawn Together Again, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY
    CHEW: Food as Muse, Opalka Gallery- Sage College of Albany, Albany, NY

    2018
    Dime-Store Alchemy, curated by Jonathan Rider, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY
    Spectrum, Curated by Kate Menconeri & Kiki Smith, Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Catskill, NY
    Cheeky: Summer Butts, Curated by Anthony Iacono & Peter LaBier, Marinaro, New York, NY
    OVERRIDE | A Billboard Project at EXPO Chicago, Chicago, IL
    Landmark, Albany International Airport, Albany, NY

    2017
    Beyond Boundaries: Feminine Forms, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
    Herbarium, NYU Langone Medical Center Gallery, New York, NY
    Garden Dwellers, Regina Rex, New York, NY
    In Our Nature, Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
    Out of Site, Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA
    Radical Kingdoms, Union College, Schenectady, NY
    Pink Noise: Flexing the Frequency, Girls’ Club, Fort Lauderdale, FL

    2016
    Tide is High, Colonel’s Row, Governor’s Island, New York, NY
    Tie His Hands Gently, Romeo, New York, NY
    Nature Pops, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY
    In Plain Air, Art Omi, Ghent, NY

    2014
    American Trash, eARThWE Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
    The Skull Show, Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA

    2013
    Consumed: Nourishment and Indulgence, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
    Resonance: Audible Silence in Portraiture, Fine Arts Center Gallery, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR
    Ephemeral, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY
    Convergence, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ

    2012
    The Female Gaze, Women Artists Making Their World, Linda Lee Alter Collection, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
    Dear Mother Nature, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, NY

    2011
    Oppenheimer Collection, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS

    2010
    Debris, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
    Objectophilia; Biennial of the Americas, Capsule, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Denver, CO
    Artists of the Mohawk-Hudson Region, The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY
    Botanica, Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ
    Digital to Physical, Patton-Malott Gallery, Anderson Ranch, Snowmass Village, CO
    At the Edge, Portsmouth Museum of Fine Art, Portsmouth, NH

    2009
    Forces of Nature, Danese Gallery, New York, NY
    New Prints-Portraits, IPCNY, New York, NY

    2008
    Garbage Picker! The Contemporary Artist as Chiffonier(e), curated by Amy Brandt, Affirmation Arts, New York, NY
    Repetitive Nature, Concourse Gallery, Albany International Airport, Albany, NY
    Cornucopia: Documenting the Land of Plenty, Monserrat Collage of Art, Beverly, MA
    Out of this World, Rockland Arts Center, Nyack, NY

    2007
    Tuttavia Povero!, Shore Institute of Contemporary Art, Long Branch, NJ
    Oasis, Flushing Town Hall, Flushing, NY

    2006
    Out of Context: Contemporary Photography in the Landscape, The Fields Sculpture Park Art, Omi International Arts Center, Ghent, NY

    2005
    This is Not an Archive, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, NY
    Flowers/Kwiaty, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY

    2004
    Tracks, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY
    On Paper, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY

    2003
    Compost, Gallery at The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN

    2002
    Artists to Artists, Ace Gallery, New York, NY (catalogue)
    Color of the Avant Garde, Landmark Gallery, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
    Reaction, Exit Art, New York, NY

    2001
    Spitting Image, Art Gallery at Stamford University of Connecticut, Stamford, CT

    2000
    Fixation: Obsession..., curated by A. Inselman, Kohler Arts Center Sheboygan, WI
    The Likeness of Being, curator Dr. Judith Stein, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY

    1999
    The Petite Format, Yoshii Gallery, New York, NY
    Color, Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Provincetown, MA
    Alan Sonfist & Portia Munson, Art Gallery of University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME

    1998
    The Ornament of the Masses, Kunstahallen Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odensec, Denmark (catalogue)
    Along the Garden Path, Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE, curated by Linda Weintraub, (catalogue)

    1997
    Fetish, Art Gallery of Windsor, curated by Renee Baert (catalogue), Montreal, Canada
    Pink, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL, curated by Lisa Wainwright
    American Art Today: The Garden, Museum at Florida International University, Miami, FL (catalogue)
    Figuring Women’s Lives, Kingsborough Community College Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

    1996
    Obsession, Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA
    Body Language, Florida State University, Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL, curated by Judith Page & Adam Strauss (catalogue)
    In This Time and Place, College Art Gallery, SUNY at New Paltz, NY
    Women Artists, Douglas College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ (catalogue)
    ARS 95 Helsinki, Museum of Contemporary Art/Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Finland (catalogue)

    1995
    Insight, David Beitzel Gallery, New York, NY
    Object Lessons: Feminine Dialogues with the Surreal, Mass College of Art, Boston, MA (catalogue)
    Kunstkabinett, curated by Sean Ellwood, Center of Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA
    Nothing Overlooked: Women Painting Still Life, Contemporary Realist Gallery, San Francisco, CA
    Domestic Disturbance, Delta Axis, curated by Allan Frame & Katherine Herndon, Memphis, TN
    New Forms, Cape Museum of Fine Arts, Dennis, MA, curated by Ann Wilson Lloyd

    1994
    Bad Girls, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY (catalogue)
    Pink Window, Art in General, New York, NY (catalogue)
    Contemporary Still Life, curated by Laura Reuter, North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND
    Evolutions, DNA Gallery, Provincetown, MA
    Sololoquies, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA

    1993
    1920, Exit Art/The First World, New York, NY
    Update ’93, White Columns, New York, NY (catalogue)
    Songs of Retribution, curated by Nancy Spero, Richard Anderson Fine Arts, New York, NY

    1992
    Women & Surrealism, curated by Mary Jane Jacob, Women’s Caucus for Art, Chicago, IL
    Still Life Today, Scott Alan Fine Arts, New York, NY

    1990
    Brut 90, curated by Bill Arning, White Columns, New York, NY

    Select Public Works

    2018
    OVERRIDE Chicago, Interlude at Hand, a Billboard Project, EXPO Chicago, Chicago, IL

    2016
    Cosmos, Albany International Airport, Albany, NY

    2015
    Botanicals Below Bryant Park, MTA Station, Bryant Park, New York, NY

    2012
    Gardens of Fort Hamilton, MTA Subway Commission, Arts for Transit, Fort Hamilton Parkway Station, Brooklyn, NY

    Collections

    Museum of Sex, New York, NY

    21C International Contemporary Art Museum, Louisville, KY

    ART in Embassies, U.S. Department of State, Arlington, VA

    Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Lyndhurst, OH

    Dimensional Fund Advisors, Austin, TX

    Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO

    NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY

    Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

    Numerous Private Collections

    Select Bibliography

    2024
    Samatar, Sofia; Zambreno, Kate. “TONE”, Columbia University Press, New York, NY, 2024.

    2023
    Bideaux, Kevin. “Rose: Une couleur aux prises avec le genre”, Editions Amsterdam, 2023.
    Stewart, Marilyn G. “Experience Art”, Davis Publications, 2023.

    2019
    Boetzkes, Amanda. “Plastic Capitalism: Contemporary Art and the Drive to Waste”, Massachusets Institute of Technology, 2019.

    2017
    Crews, Caitlin. “Got a Girl Crush, ‘Portia Munson’,” Issue 6, 2017.
    Boetzkes, Amanda. “Plastic Vision and the Sight of Petroculture”, in “Petrocultures: Oil, Politics, Culture”, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2017.

    2015
    Elvin, George. “Post – Petroleum Design,” Routledge, New York, NY, 2015.

    2014
    Bloodworth, S. & Ayres, W. “NY’s Underground Art Museum: MTA Arts & Design,” Monacelli Press, 2014.
    Coultas, Brenda. “The Tatters,” Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT, 2014.

    2012
    “Oppenheimer Collection,” James Printing Company, Kansas City, MO, 2012.

    2006
    Edited by Nemitz, Barbara. “Pink: The Exposed Color in Contemporary Art & Culture,” Hatja Cantz, NY, 2006.

    2002
    “Artist to Artist: A Decade of The Space Program,” Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, 2002.

    1994
    “Bad Girls,” The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY, 1994.