American Dream, 2023
Oil on linen over panel
18 x 24 inches
Born in Cleveland in 1942, Mark Greenwold studied painting at Carnegie Mellon University, the Cleveland Institute of Art, and Indiana University. His famously laborious artistic process mirrors the psychological intensity of his paintings. The artist works under magnification, like a jeweler, employing the tiniest of brushes. He builds up surfaces stroke by stroke, all the while flipping between various preparatory photographs and drawings. The result is a kind of delirious realism in which everything portrayed, however realistic, is actually composed of thousands upon thousands of beautiful abstractions.
Since 1979, Greenwold has had only ten solo-exhibitions, two of which contained only one painting. His 1995 mid-career retrospective, Mark Greenwold: The Odious Facts, 1975–1995, contained a scant 27 works—virtually his entire mature oeuvre—and took place at the Colby College Museum of Art. His paintings have appeared in numerous group exhibitions, including Disparities and Deformations: Our Grotesque (2005, SITE Santa Fe), Embracing Modernism (2015, Morgan Library and Museum, New York), and Intimacy in Discourse (2015, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City).
Greenwold’s work is in the permanent collections of major museums across the United States, including: the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine; the Hirshhorn Museum of Art and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Morgan Library and Museum, New York; the National Academy Museum, New York; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri; and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Mark Greenwold
1942
Born: Cleveland, Ohio
Lives and works in New York
EDUCATION
1962–1966
Cleveland Institute of Arts
1966–1968
Indiana University, Bloomington
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1979
Mark Greenwold, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
1986–1987
Mark Greenwold: Family Secrets, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, December 1986–January 1987
1993
Mark Greenwold: Recent Works, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, March–April
1995–1996
Mark Greenwold: The Odious Facts, 1975–1995, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine, November 5–December 29, 1995; Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York, Purchase College, April 21–May 19, 1996
1997
Mark Greenwold: A Man’s Worst Enemies, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, March 1–April 15
2002
Mark Greenwold: You Must Change Your Life, DC Moore Gallery, New York, October 10–November 9
2007
Mark Greenwold: A Moment of True Feeling, DC Moore Gallery, New York, October 10–November 10
2010
Mark Greenwold: Secret Storm, 1967–1975, DC Moore Gallery, New York, March 18–April 17
2013
Mark Greenwold: Murdering the World, Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York, May 10–June 28
2016
Mark Greenwold: The Rumble of Panic Underlying Everything, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, February 18–April 2
2019
Mark Greenwold: And Now What?!, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, May 30–July 2
2025
Mark Greenwold: The Human Condition, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, January 11–February 15, 2025
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1968
Drawings USA: 1968, Saint Paul Art Center, Minnesota
1969
Annual Drawing and Small Sculpture Show, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, March 1–31
Selections from Drawings USA, Charles H. MacNider Museum, Mason City, Iowa, July 27–September 3
1971
San Francisco Art Institute Centennial Exhibition, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, January 15–February 28
Drawings USA: 1971, Minnesota Museum of Art, Saint Paul, April 15–June 27
1973
California Representation: Twelve Painters and the Human Figure, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California, January 6–February 28
1975
Artists of the Mohawk-Hudson Region, Art Gallery, State University of New York, Albany, June 27–August 8
Unordinary Realities, Xerox Square Exhibition Center, Rochester, New York, September 12–November 2
1981
Crimes of Compassion, Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia, April 16–May 31
1988
Art and the Law, Minnesota Museum of Art, Saint Paul, June 5–July 31
1991–1992
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, November 24, 1991–January 5, 1992
1992
My Father’s House Has Many Mansions, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, January–February
Goodbye to Apple Pie: Contemporary Artists View the Family in Crisis, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, Massachusetts, September 19–November 29
1993
Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, March 1–28
1994
A Garden of Earthly Delights, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, April–March
1994–1995
It’s How You Play the Game, Exit Art, New York, November 5, 1994–February 11, 1995
1995
American Art Today: Night Paintings, Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, January 13–February 18
Murder, Bergamot Station Arts Center, Santa Monica, California, February 3–April 1; Thread Waxing Space, New York, May 2–June 10; Centre Gallery, Wolfson Campus, Miami-Dade Community College, September 7–October 17
1998
Original Scale, Apex Art, New York, January 8–February 7
The Risk of Existence, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, November 7–December 30
2000
S.P.s, Poor Traits, Idols, and Icons, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, April 22–May 13
Private Worlds, Art in General, New York, May 29–July 8
Plots and Intentions, Berrie Center for the Performing and Visual Arts, Ramapo College, Mahwah, New Jersey, November 1–December 6
2000–2001
Collecting Ideas: Modern and Contemporary Works from the Polly and Mark Addison Collection, Denver Art Museum, November 18, 2000–March 11, 2001
2001
Self-Made Men, DC Moore Gallery, New York, April 4–May 5
2002
The 177th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, National Academy Museum, New York, May 1–June 9
2003
Ballpoint Inklings, K.S. Art, New York, April 10–May 24
2004
Endless Love, DC Moore Gallery, New York, January 7–February 7
It’s a Wonderful Life: Psychodrama in Contemporary Painting, Spaces Gallery, Cleveland, March 19–May 14
Colored Pencil, K.S. Art, New York, April 1–May 8
About Painting, Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, June 26–September 26
2004–2005
Disparities and Deformations: Our Grotesque, SITE Santa Fe, July 18, 2004–January 9, 2005
2005
Solitude and Focus: Recent Works by MacDowell Colony Fellows in the Visual Arts, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut, January 23–June 22
2006
The Space Between Us, Art Gallery, State University of New York, Albany, January 24–April 9
Subject, Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, Connecticut, May 14–August 14
The Figure in American Painting and Drawing, 1985–2005, Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, Maine, August 27–October 31
2006–2007
Creative Imaginings: The Howard A. and Judith Tullman Collection, Mobile Museum of Art, Alabama, October 6, 2006–January 7, 2007
2007
The 182nd Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, National Academy Museum, New York, May 16–June 24
2007–2008
The Diane and Sandy Besser Collection, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, October 27, 2007–January 13, 2008
2008
Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, March 6–April 6
Sparks! The William T. Kemper Collecting Initiative, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, May 3–July 20
2010
Wall-to-Wall, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, June 5–August 14
Domestic Disturbances, David Klein Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan, September 10–October 16
2012–2013
Untitled (Giotto’s O), Sperone Westwater Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland, November 30, 2012–February 15, 2013
2014
If You’re Accidentally Not Included, Don’t Worry About It, Galerie Zürcher, New York, April 5–May 3
2015
Embracing Modernism: Ten Years of Drawings Acquisitions, Morgan Library and Museum, New York, February 13–May 24
Intimacy in Discourse, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, October 8–December 28
2018
Out of Control, Venus Over Manhattan, New York, June 28–August 3
Three Gallery Artists, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, July 12–August 10
2019
36 Works on Paper, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, July 18–August 9
2023–2024
Retinal Hysteria, Curated by Robert Storr, Venus Over Manhattan, New York, November 16, 2023–January 13, 2024
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Cleveland Museum of Art
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Morgan Library and Museum, New York
National Academy Museum, New York
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
BOOKS AND CATALOGUES
Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. Solitude and Focus: Recent Works by MacDowell Colony Fellows in the Visual Arts. Ridgefield, CT: Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, 2005.
Armstrong, Thomas N. Artists of the Mohawk-Hudson Region. Albany: State University of New York, 1975.
Art Gallery. Annual Drawing and Small Sculpture Show. Muncie, IN: Ball State University, 1969.
Burgard, Timothy Anglin, Karin Breuer, and Jill D’Alessandro. The Diane and Sandy Besser Collection. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2007.
Capasso, Nicholas J. Goodbye to Apple Pie: Contemporary Artists View the Family in Crisis. Lincoln, MA: DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, 1992.
Charles H. MacNider Museum. Selections from Drawings USA. Mason City, Iowa: Charles H. MacNider Museum, 1969.
Cohen, Joanne, and Julie Langsam. It’s a Wonderful Life: Psychodrama in Contemporary Painting. Cleveland: Spaces Gallery, 2004.
DC Moore Gallery. Mark Greenwold: A Moment of True Feeling. New York: DC Moore Gallery, 2007.
———. Mark Greenwold: Secret Storm, 1967–1975. New York: DC Moore Gallery, 2010.
Finch, Christopher. Twentieth-Century Watercolors. New York: Abbeville Press, 1988.
Friedman, Martin. Close Reading: Chuck Close and the Art of the Self-Portrait. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2005.
Johnson, Barbara Ross, and Paul William Richelson. Creative Imaginings: The Howard A. and Judith Tullman Collection. Mobile, AL: Mobile Museum of Art, 2006.
Minnesota Museum of Art. Art and the Law. Saint Paul: Minnesota Museum of Art, 1988.
———. Drawings USA: 1971. Saint Paul: Minnesota Museum of Art, 1971.
National Academy Museum. The 177th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Art. New York: National Academy Museum, 2002.
———. The 182nd Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Art. New York: National Academy Museum, 2007.
Ogunquit Museum of American Art. The Figure in American Painting and Drawing, 1985–2005. Ogunquit, ME: Ogunquit Museum of American Art, 2006.
Saint Paul Art Center. Drawings USA: 1968. Saint Paul: Saint Paul Arts Center, 1968.
San Francisco Art Institute. San Francisco Art Institute Centennial Exhibition. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1971.
Sperone Westwater Gallery. Mark Greenwold: Murdering the World. New York: Sperone Westwater Gallery, 2013.
Storr, Robert. Disparities and Deformations: Our Grotesque. Santa Fe: SITE Santa Fe, 2004.
———. Mark Greenwold: The Odious Facts, 1975–1995. Waterville, ME: Colby College Museum of Art, 1995.
Styron, Thomas W. Crimes of Compassion. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum of Art, 1981.
Tieken, Nancy B., Laura Caruso, and Mary Junda. Collecting Ideas: Modern and Contemporary Works from the Polly and Mark Addison Collection. Denver: Denver Art Museum, 2000.
Weatherspoon Art Gallery. Art on Paper. Greensboro: University of North Carolina, 1991.
Yau, John. Murder. Santa Monica, CA: Small Art Press, 1995.
PERIODICALS
Adams, Brooks. “Mark Greenwold at Phyllis Kind Gallery.” Artforum 37, no. 6 (1999): 93.
Bui, Phong. “Mark Greenwold: Murdering the World.” Brooklyn Rail (June 2013): 39.
Close, Chuck. “Hindsight, Foresight.” Art Review 4, no. 2 (2006): 114.
Cohen, David. “Gallery-Going.” New York Sun, February 5, 2004.
———. “New Showcases for Old Work.” New York Sun, September 19, 2007.
———. “The Master of Minutiae.” New York Sun, November 1, 2007.
Dawdy, David. “Baxter Gallery Shows a Dozen Hyperrealists.” Los Angeles Free Press 10, no. 8 (1973): 12.
Egan, Shannon. “Mark Greenwold’s Excited Self.” Gettysburg Review 22, no. 4 (2009): 580–92.
Eleey, Peter. “Fifth International SITE Santa Fe Biennial.” Frieze no. 86 (2004): 161.
Emerling, Susan. “Disparities and Deformations: Our Grotesque.” Border Crossings 23, no. 4 (2004): 90–92.
Gardner, James. “Hooray for Humbug.” New York Sun, May 31, 2007.
Glueck, Grace. “Art in Review: Mark Greenwold.” New York Times, March 21, 1997.
———. “Art in Review: Self-Made Men.” New York Times, April 27, 2001.
Greenwold, Mark. “Censorship Protested.” Los Angeles Times, March 11, 1973.
———. “Mal-content.” Village Voice 24, no. 53 (1979): 4.
Greenwold, Mark and Peter Saul. “Peter Saul and Mark Greenwold in Conversation.” Turps Banana, no. 17 (January 2017): 4–11.
Grimes, Nancy. “Mark Greenwold at DC Moore.” Art News 109, no. 6 (2010): 106–7.
Haggerty, Gerard. “Mark Greenwold at Phyllis Kind.” Art News 96, no. 8 (1997): 135.
———. “See It Now.” New York Sun, October 30, 2007.
Hirsch, Faye. “Mark Greenwold’s Confessions.” Art in America 96, no. 2 (2008): 112–15, 164.
Johnson, Ken. “Mark Greenwold’s Recent Paintings.” Arts Magazine 61, no. 5 (1987): 70–72.
Kimmelman, Michael. “The Convention of Beastly Beauty.” New York Times, August 6, 2004.
LeBrun, Fred. “Albany State Art Gallery Hosts Region’s Best.” Sunday Times Union, July 4, 1976.
Lippard, Lucy. “Retro-Chic: Looking Back in Anger.” Village Voice 24, no. 50 (1979): 67–69.
“Mark Greenwold.” New Yorker 86, no. 7 (2010): 13.
Mills, Paul. “Censoring of ‘Storm.’” Los Angeles Times, March 25, 1973.
Mitchell, Charles. “Report from Santa Fe: Everything in Excess.” Art in America 92, no. 10 (2004): 84–91.
Newhall, Edith. “Art Exhibitions: Mark Greenwold.” New York Magazine 26, no. 17 (1993): 107.
Nuys, Van. “Mark Greenwold.” Art Week 2, no. 8 (1971): 3.
Ratcliff, Carter. “Review of Exhibitions: Mark Greenwold at Phyllis Kind.” Art in America 67, no. 7 (1979): 127–29.
Raynor, Vivian. “Messages: Abstractly and Realistically.” New York Times, May 12, 1996.
Rexer, Lyle. “The Pen: Mightier Than You Thought.” New York Times, April 13, 2003.
Rosenberg, Karen. “Art in Review: Mark Greenwold.” New York Times, April 9, 2010.
Seldis, Henry S. “Neo-Realism: Crisp Focus on the American Scene.” Los Angeles Times, January 21, 1973.
Smith, Roberta. “A Painter’s Painter, Working with a Cast of Big Heads.” New York Times, November 8, 2007.
———. “Art in Review: Endless Love.” New York Times, February 6, 2004.
———. “Art in Review: Mark Greenwold.” New York Times, December 4, 1998.
———. “The New, Irreverent Approach to Mounting Exhibitions.” New York Times, January 6, 1995.
———. “Those Witty, Mocking Germans.” New York Times, October 22, 2004.
Somerstein, Rachel. “Mark Greenwold at DC Moore.” Art News 106, no. 10 (2007): 216.
Stiles, Knute. “A Centennial in San Francisco: Three Museums Celebrate 100 Years of the San Francisco Art Institute.” Artforum 9, no. 8 (1971): 68–73.
Storm, Nikita. “Disparities and Deformations: Our Grotesque.” Art Papers 28, no. 6 (2004): 55.
Vine, Richard. “Reviews: Mark Greenwold at Phyllis Kind.” Art in America 81, no. 6 (1993): 101–2.
Yau, John. “Mark Greenwold: A Moment of True Feeling.” Brooklyn Rail (November 2007): 37.
