Product Description
Between art and activism, from climate change to immigration: the multimedia work of Andrea Bowers.
Based in Los Angeles, Andrea Bowers (born 1965) constructs her practice around the notions of collaboration, representation and engagement. Through her dedication to social and environmental justice, as well as her partnerships with activist organizations and various protest movements, Bowers has renegotiated her role as artist in society. Running throughout her drawings, paintings, videos and installations is a rigorous reevaluation of the concepts, structures and images that have guided our relentless search for meaning and justice. With work that is at once hyper-conceptual and socially engaged, Bowers creates spaces within which to share and evaluate the potential of art as a tool for social progress—while serving as witness and documentarian to the work of activists worldwide.
This book is a comprehensive and definitive survey of Bowers’ work to date and investigates some of the key, longstanding interests that have guided her practice. Critical pieces from writers of various backgrounds and fields position Bowers’ practice in the context of the movements, histories and struggles that make up these broader concerns. Accompanying these illuminating texts are full-color illustrations of works, including a selection of Bowers’ well-known neon sculptures and large-scale installations, as well as numerous other drawings, paintings, photographs and video works.
Hardcover; 208 pages
About the Artist:
Born in Wilmington, Ohio in 1965, Andrea Bowers lives and works in Los Angeles, where she has established an artistic practice fundamentally concerned with contemporary political, social, and aesthetic issues. While Bowers’s work is tightly aligned with feminist concerns, she has also employed various mediums—drawing, installation, video, and photography, for instance—to explore pressing topics such as immigration, environmental activism, abortion, workers’ rights, and sexual and gender discrimination. Bowers’s educational background includes a BFA from Bowling Green State University in Ohio as well as an MFA from CalArts in Valencia. The artist’s work has been exhibited extensively, including at institutions such as the Pomona College Museum of Art in Claremont, California, the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens, REDCAT in Los Angeles, ArtPace in San Antonio, the St. Louis Museum, and the Drawing Center in New York, among others.
