Andy Warhol isn’t the first person who comes to mind when thinking about late Newport artist Rick Bartow (1946 – 2016). Warhol famously represented popular culture while Bartow, a member of northern California’s Wiyot Tribe, was known in large part for how he portrayed Native American culture. Yet, exhibits by both artists bookend the High Desert Museum’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. The museum in Bend kicked things off in December of 2023 with Warhol’s Endangered Species series; Rick Bartow: Animal Kinship opened on September 20th.
When the High Desert Museum thought about how they wanted to celebrate the anniversary last year, Executive Director Dana Whitelaw said they immediately thought of Warhol. Whitelaw, a primatologist who has spent time studying lemurs in Madagascar, said the museum initially contacted Jordan Schnitzer and his Family Foundation solely about Warhol’s Endangered Species prints series. A departure from Warhol’s typical celebrities and soup cans, Endangered Species instead focuses on ten animals at risk of extinction (seven of those are still at risk).
The Foundation, located in Portland, holds one of the largest print collections in the country, if not the world, and had so much more to offer. So, Endangered Species became the first show in a yearlong, three-part series of works on loan from the Jordan Schnitzer and his Family Foundation that focused on animals, the environment and our relationship to both.
The second exhibit was Near, Far, Gone, a group show that included work by contemporary artists Ann Hamilton and Kiki Smith. Rick Bartow: Animal Kinship will be on view until February 2025…