Michael Bartalos is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose work bridges graphic art, bookmaking, and environmental science. His projects rely on research, observation, and fieldwork.

His current project, The Long View, explores Antarctic and global sustainability in the context of human-accelerated climate change. A National Science Foundation grant sent Bartalos to McMurdo and South Pole stations to work alongside scientists, study recycling protocols, collect discards, and apply his findings to a sequential work now in progress. Structurally formatted as a lengthy multi-panel series, it serves as an explicit visual metaphor for taking "the long view" on global sustainability and resource conservation. 

Bartalos’s overall output spans print, sculpture, video, multimedia installations, and photo collages. He has produced artist’s multiples in collaboration with Xerox PARC, the San Francisco Center for the Book, the Maryland Institute College of Art, and New York’s Purgatory Pie Press among others. His works have been exhibited internationally and are found in numerous artists’ books collections including those of the Getty Research Institute, MoMA, and the Walker Art Center.

He is the California Academy of Science's first Affiliate Artist and a grantee of the NSF’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, Stanford’s SOMA Summer Fellowship in Mexico City, and the Headlands Center for the Arts Graduate Fellowship in California. 

Bartalos attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Pratt Institute (BFA), and Stanford University (MFA). He lives and works in San Francisco where he serves as Co-Director of ArtMadeHere.org, sits on Sessions.edu’s Advisory Board, and was inaugural Chair of the San Francisco Center for the Book's Imprint Committee. 

More info on the artist in this Frontrunner interview.

Selected Group and Solo Exhibitions:

Purgatory Pie Press Artist Books & Limited Editions, New York Public Library, New York NY 2025
Visión Musical, La Sala de Pepe Gallery y Foto Espacio, New York NY 2024
HOME, Near and Far, Latino Arts Council, Gallery North, East Setauket NY 2021
Michael Bartalos: Projections, Max Occupancy Gallery, San Francisco CA 2019
10th Anniversary Passport Exhibition, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, SF CA 2018
Elective Affinities: A Library, Hunter College Art Galleries, New York NY 2017
An Annual Affair, Frontrunner Collective, New York NY 2016
Art Above 66° 33′′, Augustana College Art Museum, Rock Island IL 2016
Look! Book Arts, Healdsburg Center for the Arts, Healdsburg CA 2016
The San Francisco Foundation’s Murphy & Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition, SOMArts, SF CA 2015
Build it Up / Break it Down, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito CA 2015
Watershed Moments, San Francisco State University Art Gallery, San Francisco CA 2015
Introductions 2015, Root Division, San Francisco CA 2015
Pulp Atlas, Hospitalfield Arts, Arbroath, Scotland 2014
You Can’t Choose Your Neighbors, SOMA, Mexico City, Mexico 2014
Half Tilt Full Lean, Thomas Welton Stanford Gallery, Stanford CA 2014
MFA Now, Root Division, San Francisco CA 2014
Binding Desire: Unfolding Artists Books, Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles CA 2014
Welcome Aliens/A Short History of Cologne, ltd los angeles, Los Angeles CA 2013
Arsenal, Thomas Welton Stanford Gallery, Stanford CA 2013
Get Lucky: The Culture of Chance, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco CA 2012
Seeking Silicon Valley, ZERO1 Biennial, San Francisco CA 2012
The San Francisco Foundation’s Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition, SOMArts, SF CA 2012
Cutters: An Exhibition of International Collage, Gestalten Space, Berlin, Germany 2011
Cutters: An Exhibition of International Collage, West Cork Arts Centre, Cork, Ireland 2011
Age of Wonder, Turtle Bay Museum, Redding CA 2011
Michael Bartalos: Handle With Care, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco CA 2011
Keeping an Eye on Surveillance, Performance Art Institute, San Francisco CA 2011
Move, Space 1026, Philadelphia PA 2010
Prints Byte: The Cutting Edge of Printmaking, SOMArts, San Francisco CA 2010
Super Short Video, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn NY 2010
Reframe: Making Sense of Waste, Arc Gallery, San Francisco CA 2010
The Seduction of Duchamp, ArtZone 491, San Francisco CA 2010
Unbound: A National Exhibition of Book Art, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek CA 2010
Cutters: An Exhibition of International Collage, Cinders Gallery, Brooklyn NY 2009
Alphabetilately, Smithsonian National Postal Museum, Washington DC 2009
New West Coast Design, San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco CA 2008
Blab, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University, KS 2008
Bookworks, Skylight Gallery, San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco CA 2008
Banned and Recovered: Artists Respond to Censorship, African-American Museum and Library, Oakland CA 2008
Michael Bartalos: Assemblages and Editions, MICA Rosenberg Gallery, Baltimore MD 2007
Action/Interaction: Book/Art, Columbia College Book and Paper Center, Chicago IL 2007
Picture Mechanics, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville TN 2006
Ex Libris, San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco CA 2006
The Art of Book Art, 1212 Gallery, Burlingame CA 2006
30 Years of Innovation: A Survey of Exhibition History at The Center for Book Arts, Center for Book Arts, NYC 2005
Paper, Ink, Fresh Perspectives, San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco CA 2004
The Ganzfeld (Unbound), Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York NY 2003
Assembly, The Front Room Gallery, Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY 2003
The Panorama Project, The Front Room Gallery, Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY 2002
Picture Mechanics, 69a Gallery, San Francisco 2002
High Tech/Low Tech Hybrids: Art in a Digital Age, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek CA 2002
XFB / Experiments in the Future of the Book, Tech Museum, San Jose CA 2001
New Thoughts on Bookmaking: Digital Interpretations, Cary Graphic Arts Collection, Wallace Library, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester NY 2000

Collections

Brown University Rare Books Collection, Providence RI
Carnegie Mellon University Special Collections, Pittsburgh PA
Getty Research Institute Special Collections, Los Angeles CA
Maryland Institute College of Art, Decker Book Arts Collection, Baltimore MD
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Watson Artists’ Books Collection, New York, NY
Museum of Modern Art, Book Arts Collection, New York, NY
New York Public Library, Rare Books Collection, New York NY
Otis College of Art and Design, Artists’ Books Collection, Los Angeles CA
Ruth & Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete & Visual Poetry, Miami FL
San Francisco Public Library Artists’ Books Collection, San Francisco CA
Stanford University Special Collections and University Archives, Palo Alto CA
The Tate Artists’ Books Collection, London UK
University of Delaware Special Collections, Newark DE
University of California, San Diego Special Collections
University of California, Santa Barbara Special Collections
Victoria & Albert Museum Artists’ Books Collection, London UK
Walker Art Center Artists’ Books Collection, Minneapolis MN
Yale University Arts of the Book Collection, New Haven CT

Teaching

Course: Advanced Topic Studio (co-taught with Scott Minneman) 2018-2020
Position: Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Design MFA Program
California College of the Arts, San Francisco CA

Course: Interdisciplinary Art Survey for Art Majors 2014
Position: Graduate Professor, Department of Art & Art History
Stanford University, Stanford CA

Lectures, Presentations, and Workshops 1992-2026

American University, Washington DC
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena CA
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco CA
California College of the Arts, San Francisco CA
California State University, Hayward CA
Camberwell School of Art, London, England
Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco CA
Facultad del Hábitat, San Luis Potosí, México
Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore MD
Parsons School of Design, New York NY
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn NY
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence RI
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco CA
San Francisco State University, San Francisco CA
School of Visual Arts, New York NY
Stanford University, Stanford CA
University of San Francisco, San Francisco CA

Professional Activities

Co-Director, Art Made Here / Lacandon Art Workshops, Chiapas, Mexico 2009-present
Advisory Board Member, Sessions.edu 2024-2026
Member, Stanford Art & Architecture Library Advisory Committee, Stanford CA 2013-2014
Chair, Imprint of the San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco CA 2008-2013
Board Member, San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco CA 2008-2013