Rick Bartow (Wiyot), December 16, 1946 - April 2, 2016
Bartow lived and worked in Newport, Oregon. In 1969 he graduated from Western Oregon State College with a BA in Secondary Art Eduction. Bartow was a Vietnam Veteran, a life-long musician and songwriter, a widower, an enrolled member of the Mad River Band of Wiyot Indians, and is considered one of the most important leaders in contemporary Native American art. His art is held in over 100 public collections and was subject of over 100 solo exhibitions at museums and galleries, including the retrospective Things You Know But Cannot Explain, organized by the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon in collaboration with Froelick Gallery. That retrospective toured 11 museums from 2015 to 2020 and was accompanied with a fully illustrated monograph. Retrospective works available for purchase are found here: Things You Know But Cannot Explain.
In 2022 the Whitney Musuem Museum of American Art added four of Bartow's works on paper to their permanent collection. This collection of drawings exemplifies Bartow's brilliant mark-making and storytelling. It is a great honor knowing that they now reside at the world-renowned Whitney Museum.
Froelick Gallery has represented Rick since we opened in 1995 and continues to represent his estate.