Let Us Feel Heartbreak (Quote by Deena Metzger; Bird: Maui Akepa, Declared Extinct October 2021), from the series Eco Grief Extinction

Andrea Bowers

2022

On View in James M. Kemper Gallery, Room 3 until July 29, 2024

This work, consisting of a drawing on a multidimensional collage of cardboard, is part of Andrea Bowers’s Eco Grief Extinction series. Here, as in the series as a whole, the artist explores eco-anxiety through means of sorrow and empathy to confront the effects of climate change, particularly focusing on the relation between women and nature. In this work she depicts two Maui akepa, a species of bird native to Hawaii that was declared extinct by the US government in 2021 due to human-made environmental destruction. Bowers’s birds are likely modeled after taxidermied specimens, the stillness of their preserved bodies contrasting with their vibrant, lifelike colors. To the left of the birds Bowers drew a female figure nearly the same size, with a similar color scheme and flattened effect, creating an imagined scene that underscores the intimate and reciprocal relationship between animals and humans. A quote from the healer-poet Deena Metzger in the lower right-hand corner of the composition, “Let us feel heartbreak,” contemplates the experience of loss that arises from the devastation of vital ecosystems. The use of cardboard materials—both new and recycled—for the structure of the work reflects Bowers’s longstanding activism to protect old-growth trees, calling attention to the waste created by excessive human consumption and its impact on the environment.

[Permanent collection label, 2024]

Artist Andrea Bowers (American, b. 1965)
Title Let Us Feel Heartbreak (Quote by Deena Metzger; Bird: Maui Akepa, Declared Extinct October 2021), from the series Eco Grief Extinction
Date 2022
Medium Acrylic paint marker on cardboard
Dimensions unframed | 72 x 72 1/2 x 5 1/4 in.
Credit line University purchase, Bixby Fund and Yeatman Fund, 2023
Object number WU 2023.0002

Currently on View James M. Kemper Gallery, Room 3 until July 29, 2024

Let Us Feel Heartbreak: Contemporary Art and the Environment
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/17/2024

New Acquisitions in Contemporary Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 07/19/2023 - 07/29/2024 James M. Kemper Gallery, Room 3

Dear Earth: Art and Hope in a Time of Crisis
Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre (London, England), 06/21/2023 - 09/03/2023

Inscription Verso, lower left corner in black marker (?) on canvas support: Andrea Bowers / 2022

Label Verso, lower left corner on wood backing board, white paper label with black printed text: [ULC]:

Andrew Kreps / Gallery; [UC] 22 Cortland Alley, / New York, NY 10013; [C, left justified]: [bold] Andrea Bowers / [ital] Eco Grief Extinction Series, Let us Feel Heartbreak (Quote / by Deena Metzger; Bird: Maui Akepa, Declared Extinct / October 2021), 2022 / Acrylic on Cardboard / 72 x72 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches (182.9 x 184.2 x 13.3 cm) / (AB22-026)

Label Verso, center on lower cleat bar, white paper label with black printed text: [ULC] VIELMETTER LOS ANGELES / [C] "Eco Grief Extinction Series, Let Us Feel Heartbreak (Quote by Deena / Metzger; Bird: Maui Akepa, Declared Extinct October 2021)," 2022 / Acrylic on Cardboard / 72" x 72 1/2" x 5 1/4" [HxWxD] (182.88 x 184.15 x 13.34 cm) / Gallery Inventory #BOW623; [LLC] 1700 S Santa Fe Ave #101, Los Angeles, CA 90021 +1 213 623 3280 / [bold] vielmetter.com

Label Verso, lower right corner on wood backing board, white paper label with black printed text and a color thumbnail-size image: [ULC] Mildred Lane / Kemper Art Museum / [CL] [bold] Andrea Bowers (American, b. 1965) / [ital] Let Us Feel Heartbreak (Quote by Deena Metzger; / Bird: Maui Akepa, Declared Extinct October 2021), / from the series Eco Grief Extinction, 2022 / Acrylic paint marker on cardboard / University purchase, Bixby Fund and Yeatman Fund, 2023 / WU 2023.0002 / [color image] / Washington University in St. Louis, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.