The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 30, 2026

A vertically oriented pastel and graphite drawing on white paper depicts a partially abstract hybrid figure through energetic strokes. Center left, an animal's head faces our left and screams with bared teeth, merging into a pale torso featuring a single nipple. Streaks and swirling blotches of pink, blue, and green pastel overlap graphite outlines. Center right, human hands reach out, while animal paws extend below. A red arc sweeps across the upper right.

Against Instinct

1989

Rick Bartow

(Enrolled member of the Mad River Band of Wiyot Tribe, 1946–2016)
America
pastel with graphite on coated pastel paper
Sheet: 142.2 x 121.9 cm (56 x 48 in.); Framed: 167.6 x 137.2 cm (66 x 54 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Trust 2024.61
© Rick Bartow
Location: 101A Prints & Drawings

Did You Know?

Rick Bartow reflected that that art “allowed [him] to speak of [his] firsthand experience. It allowed [him] to have a lineage and create a statement that’s real.”

Description

Contemporary Indigenous artist Rick Bartow drew from an expansive range of references to create paintings, drawings, and prints that address themes of transformation. A Vietnam veteran and an enrolled member of the Mad River Band of Wiyot Indians in Oregon, Bartow took up imagery related to the boundaries between humans and animals and between the bodily and the spiritual. In this drawing, he used a combination of media to depict a hybrid creature between dog and human. Dogs were a subject that recurred throughout Bartow’s work, and he saw in them some of his own personality traits.
  • ?–2024
    (Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    September 9, 2024–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • still/emerging: Native American Works on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 1-June 7, 2026).
    Summer Group Exhibit. Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR (2021).
    Stories. Jamison/Thomas Gallery, Portland, OR (1991)
    Recent Pastel Drawings. Fairbanks Gallery, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR (1990).
  • {{cite web|title=Against Instinct|url=false|author=Rick Bartow|year=1989|access-date=30 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.61