Andrea Bowers
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Biography
Born 1965 in Wilmington, OH
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CAOver more than three decades, Andrea Bowers has established a significant international reputation as an artist and social activist. The New York Times has described her as “America’s foremost political artist,” reflecting the central role of social and political engagement within her practice.
The Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, is dedicating a solo exhibition to the artist, opening on 29 October 2026. Recent institutional presentations include Glenstone, Potomac; Kunsthaus Graz; Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland; Kunstmuseum Bonn; Hayward Gallery, London; GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna Milano in collaboration with Fondazione Furla; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach; and Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, among others. In France, Bowers is currently included in Diseuses de silence at Espace Monte-Cristo – Fondation Villa Datris, Paris. In 2024, she was selected for Maison Ruinart’s Carte Blanche program, with her work presented at Maison Ruinart in Reims. She was previously the subject of a solo exhibition at Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris.
Bowers’ work is held in prominent international collections, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; and Glenstone, Potomac, Maryland, among others.
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WorksOpen a larger version of the following image in a popup:
Installation view, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles 2022
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Installation view, Capitain Petzel, Berlin 2013
Andrea Bowers
I Plan to Stay a Believer - The Arcadia 4 Tree Sit, 2013Single channel video with color and sound60:55 minEdition 5 + 2 APB-ABOWERS-.13-0014Further images
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In 2011 Andrea Bowers was arrested, with three other activists, for climbing into the trees of a native oak woodland habitat in Arcadia, CA and trying to save a pristine...In 2011 Andrea Bowers was arrested, with three other activists, for climbing into the trees of a native oak woodland habitat in Arcadia, CA and trying to save a pristine forest of 250 trees from being clearcut by the county of Los Angeles. Ultimately, she was arrested and placed in jail for two days. Bowers videotaped the entire experience until the sheriffs took her camera into evidence. The result is a video, "I Plan to Stay a Believer" (2013) that includes her footage, news footage and the sheriff department’s recordings. Tree sitting is a form of environmentalist civil disobedience in which a protester sits in a tree, usually on a small platform built for the purpose, to protect it from being cut down.Exhibitions
2013 Andrea Bowers, Cultivating the Courage to Sin, Capitain Petzel, Berlin.
2020 ANDREA BOWERS - grief and hope, Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach
Publications
Andrea Bowers, Exhibition catalogue of Pomona College Museum of Art and Pitzer College Art Galleries, 2014, p. 56 and 57.
Andrea Bowers, edited by Connie Butler and Michael Darling. Exhibition catalogue of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Hammer Museum Los Angeles, 2021, p. 32 and 33.NewsExhibitionsExternal ExhibitionsPressPublicationsVideoRequest more information
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