"Bierstadt with Holes" by Valerie Hegarty presents a dramatically deteriorated reimagining of a classic Albert Bierstadt landscape painting, its surface torn, burned, and decayed as if ravaged by time or nature itself. The work disrupts the romanticized grandeur of 19th-century American landscape painting by introducing physical destruction into the idealized scenery, creating a haunting tension between beauty and ruin. Hegarty's signature aesthetic of simulated damage challenges notions of cultural heritage, manifest destiny, and the fragility of the natural world these paintings once sought to celebrate.