John Mendelsohn has shown his paintings in solo and two-person exhibitions at Artists Space, New York; 57W57 Arts, New York; Kook Projects, NY; Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn; Cheryl Pelavin Fine Art, New York; Michael Walls Gallery, New York; Hal Bromm Gallery, New York; Rupert Ravens Contemporary, Newark; University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, and Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT. Group exhibitions include the Venice Biennale, Nordiska Kompanient, Stockholm, Sweden; MoMA P.S.1, New York; 490 Atlantic, Brooklyn; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis; Hallwalls, Buffalo; and Wellesley College Museum, Wellesley, MA.

He has received grants from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Tree of Life Foundation. His exhibitions have been reviewed in the New York Times, Art in America, The Huffington Post, The New Criterion, Arts Magazine, Artnet, and dArt International Magazine. He has written on contemporary Art for many publications. He received a BA from Columbia University in 1971, an MFA from Rutgers University in 1974, and participated in the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. He is an Adjunct Professor at Fairfield University in the Studio Art Program.