Mel Bochner was born in Pittsburgh in 1940. He studied painting and philosophy, earned his BFA from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1962, and moved to New York City in 1964, where he continues to live and work. His first exhibition, in 1966 at the School of Visual Arts, Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to be Viewed as Art, is often cited as the first exhibition of conceptual art. In 1976, Peter Freeman, while still a student, invited him to make the cover for the Harvard University campus literary magazine. Thirty years later, in 2006, Bochner joined Peter Freeman, Inc. and has mounted nine solo exhibitions at the gallery since.
Bochner’s work is included in many public collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Tate, London; and Centre Pompidou, Paris. In addition to the retrospective at the Art Institute and the Dia Beacon commission, recent solo exhibitions have included a show at The National Museum of Art, Osaka (2023) and a wall drawing as part of a site-specific installation series at The Menil Drawing Institute, Houston (2022–2023).
Bochner’s work is included in many public collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Tate, London; and Centre Pompidou, Paris. In addition to the retrospective at the Art Institute and the Dia Beacon commission, recent solo exhibitions have included a show at The National Museum of Art, Osaka (2023) and a wall drawing as part of a site-specific installation series at The Menil Drawing Institute, Houston (2022–2023).