Portia Munson
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Born: 1961

Hometown: Beverly, MA

Lives and Works: Catskill Mountains, NY

Education: MFA, Mason Gross School of Art, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 1990
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME, 1987
BFA, Cooper Union School of Art, New Yo r k, NY, 1983

Portia Munson Bio

About The Artist

Portia Munson responds to contemporary culture and the natural environment through works made in a range of media including installation, painting, photography, and sculpture. Themes that pervade her work include color, consumerism, life and death, and nature.

Munson is best known for her thought-provoking installations and paintings. Examples include her installation Green, the title chosen for the color's environmental connotations. Ironically, the composition only comprises synthetic objects, including army figurines and weed killer. The shape of the piece imitates a lawn, further emphasizing the paradoxes within the work and the world.
In the Pink Project, Munson made an artwork from pink objects—ranging from dolls to dildos—from her studio.

In her work, Munson often uses flowers as subjects. She primarily concentrates on their details, structures, and color and arranges them in a way that enhances the vibrancy of their color and form to make other images such as circles and skulls. Munson "began creating flower images in 2002 after the death of a favorite person left [her] pondering the fleeting lives of flowers and people." By selecting flowers depending on what is in bloom while she is creating her photographs, Munson also works intimately with time and nature.

Munson has exhibited in institutions such as the New Museum, New York and her works have been reviewed in publications including the New York Times and USA Today.