Andrea Bowers
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Biography
Born 1965 in Wilmington, OH
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CAOver the last 20 years Andrea Bowers has gained an international reputation as an artist and social activist. For Bowers, political engagement and artistic expression are inseparable. Her practice, which includes drawings, videos and installations, addresses a wide range of relevant socio-political issues from women’s and worker’s rights and the arms industry, to immigration politics and the climate crisis. Storytelling is integral to the work, and part of her activism consists of highlighting the narratives of resistance and rebellion.
Bowers has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (2024); Galleria d’Arte Moderna Milano in collaboration with Fondazione Furla, Milan (2022); The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2022); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2021/2022); Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach (2020); Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen (2019/2020); Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati (2017); Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris (2014); Wiener Secession, Vienna (2007); and The Power Plant, Toronto (2007). Bowers has exhibited internationally in biennials and major institutional group exhibitions, including Kunstmuseum Bonn (2023); Hayward Gallery, London (2023); Kunstmueum Ravensburg (2023); Kuntsmuseum Wolfsburg (2022); Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (2022); Berkeley Art Museum (2021); Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2021); Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf (2020); Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2018); Documenta 14, Fridericianum, Kassel (2017); Triennale Milano, Milan (2017); Aspen Art Museum (2016); and Albertina, Vienna (2015). Bowers’ work is held in the collections of The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; MoMA, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Museum Of Contemporary Art, Chicago, among others.
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Andrea Bowers‘ work addresses many pressing socio-political issues; eco-feminism and climate justice being especially central themes in her practice. With her light objects, Bowers make use of the aesthetics of American neonadvertising signage to convey her strongly political messages.
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Works
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Andrea BowersWhat We Do To Nature, We Do To Ourselves, 2023 - 2024Single-channel video with color and sound56:42 min
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Andrea BowersThe Dead Silence of Extinction (Bachman's Warbler, last confirmed sighting 1988, LA, scientific specimen preserved at Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History), 2023Graphite and soft pastel on paperPaper dimensions:
38.1 x 56.9 cm / 15 x 22.4 inches
Framed dimensions:
44.2 x 62.9 cm / 17.4 x 24.8 inches -
Andrea BowersChandeliers of Interconnectedness (Behind Naming Before Speaking Beneath Words, Quote by Susan Griffin), 2023Steel, neon and fused glass136 x 100 x 88 cm
53.5 x 39.3 x 34.7 inches -
Andrea BowersLive in the Sunshine, Swim the Sea, Drink the Wild Air (Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson), 2023Neon113 x 304 x 5.5 cm
44.5 x 119.7 x 2.2 inchesEdition of 3 + 1 AP -
Andrea BowersFemme Trans-Corporeal Fantasy (Leaping Fae), 2023Acrylic on cardboard121.9 x 57.9 x 8.9 cm
48 x 22.8 x 3.5 inches -
Andrea BowersThe Dead Silence of Extinction (Maui Akepa, last confirmed sighting 1988, HI, scientific specimen preserved at Naturalis Biodiversity Center), 2023Graphite and soft pastel on paperPaper dimensions:
38.1 x 56.9 cm / 15 x 22.4 inches
Framed dimensions:
44.2 x 62.9 cm / 17.4 x 24.8 inches -
Andrea BowersResist (Illustration Designed by Suffrage Atelier, London, 1909), 2017Acrylic marker on cardboard137.2 x 101.6 x 14 cm
54 x 40 x 5.5 inches -
Andrea BowersBeloved Community (Quote by Martin Luther King, Jr), 2023Neon68 x 90 x 5.5 cm
26.8 x 35.4 x 2.2 inchesEdition of 3 + 1 AP -
Andrea BowersSabo-Tabby, From Modern Witch House, 2022Cardboard and color changing LED lights, 7 colors98 x 82 x 15.5 cm
38.5 x 32 x 6 inches -
Andrea BowersEcofeminist Oak Branch Series: It is Good to Remember that the Planet is Carrying You (Vandana Shiva) - Think of the Earth as a Relative Not a Resource - Kinship is More Than Human (Vandana Shiva), 2021Acrylic marker on cardboardSigned and dated versoEach ca. 153 x 80 x 7 cm / 60 x 31.5 x 2.8 inches
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Andrea BowersChandeliers of Interconnectedness (Women Still Dream, Quote by Susan Griffin), 2023Steel, neon and fused glass94 x 75 x 61 cm
37 x 29.5 x 24 inches -
Andrea BowersChandeliers of Interconnectedness (Our Bodies Float Among Stars, Quote by Susan Griffin), 2023Steel, neon and fused glass134 x 105 x 94 cm
52.7 x 41.3 x 37 inches -
Andrea BowersNo Walls No Glass Ceiling (Originally a Celebratory Poster for the Liberation of France during World War II, illustrated by Philippe Grach, 1944), 2018Acrylic marker on cardboard190.5 x 132 x 13 cm
75 x 52 x 5 inches -
Andrea BowersFight Like a Girl, 2021Cardboard and color changing LED lights, acrylic gel medium165.1 x 297.2 x 15.2 cm
65 x 117 x 6 inches
Installation view "Andrea Bowers. Moving in Space without Asking Permission“, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan, 2022 -
Andrea BowersProtect Kids, Not Guns: Ode to CODEPINK (Newtown), 2018Cardboard, acrylic paint50 x 150 x 5.5 cm / 20 x 59 x 2 inches
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Andrea BowersGrief Hope, 2020Neon, transformers and power supply124.1 x 304 x 10.2 cm
48.9 x 119.3 x 4 inchesEdition of 3 + 1 AP -
Andrea BowersTrust Women, 2018Cardboard and color changing LED lights, acrylic gel medium102 x 249 x 16 cm
40 x 98 x 6 inches -
Andrea BowersMy Name Means Future, 2020Single-channel HD video with color and sound51:06 minEdition of 5 + 2 AP
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Andrea BowersRadical Feminist Pirate Ship Tree Sitting Platform, 2013Recycled wood, rope, carabiners, misc. equipment and supplies141 47⁄64 x 315 x 86 39⁄64 inches
800 x 220 x 360c m -
Andrea BowersPeople's Initiative Poetic Protest on Paper Group 1, 1 of 4, 2020Graphite on paperSigned versoImage Dimensions:
100 x 200 cm / 39.4 x 78.7 inches
Framed Dimensions:
107 x 207 cm / 42.1 x 81.5 inches -
Andrea BowersClean Air Pure Water Healthy Land Tree Sitting Platform for Forest Defense, 2012Recycled wood, rope, carabiners, misc. equipment and supplies194.3 x 162.6 x 121.9 cm
76.5 x 64 x 48 inches -
Andrea BowersNonviolent Civil Disobedience Training - Tree Sitting Forest Defense, 2009Single-channel video with color and sound, monitor, climbing rope, carabiners, wooden platform
33:50 min, loopedDimensions variableEdition 5 + 2 AP -
Andrea BowersI Plan to Stay a Believer - The Arcadia 4 Tree Sit, 2013Single channel video with color and sound60:55 minEdition 5 + 2 AP
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Andrea BowersMemorial to Arcadia Woodlands Clear-Cut, 2013Metal, paracord, rope, woodapprox. 300 x Ø 170 cm / 118.1 x Ø 67 inches
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Andrea BowersPapillon Monarque (No one is illegal ; Dream, Rise, Organize / Personne n’est illégale ; Rêve, Défend, Organise), Graphic collaboration with Gabrielle Parmentier, Louis Vuitton's Graphic Studio, 2014Marker on re-used cardboard215 x 362 cm
84.7 x 142.5 inches -
Andrea BowersI Am Nature: Champion International Clearcut; West Flank of the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness, 2013Archival marker on found cardboard300 x 400 x 3 cm
118.1 x 157.5 x 1.2 inches -
Andrea BowersHeartless (Fight for $15 Protest at McDonalds, Dec. 5th, 2015, Los Angeles), 2015Graphite on paperSigned versoPaper dimensions:
38 x 55 cm / 15 x 21.7 inches
Framed dimensions:
44.5 x 63.5 cm | 17.5 x 25 inches -
Andrea BowersDisrupting and Resisting, J20 & J21, 2017, 2018Single channel HD video with color and sound89:23 minEdition of 5 + 2 AP
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Exhibitions
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External Exhibitions
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News
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