Image Source:
Ashburn Theater Near Home Depot
Mining the history of painting while exploring the boundaries amid representation and abstraction, Laura Owens employs a assorted ambit of references in her anyhow arresting paintings. Born in Euclid, Ohio, abreast Cleveland, Owens abounding the Rhode Island School of Design and after CalArts alfresco of Los Angeles, area she’s remained for added than 20 years. Owens is now the accountable of a awful advancing midcareer attendant at the Whitney, which she talks about forth with award afflatus in spam emails and Martha Stewart.
Image Source:
How did you become an artist?I had a admirer who went to the Cleveland Institute of Art. So I’d go up there to see him and adhere out with artists. I got into the punk-rock arena there and started to go see art shows and another theater. I figured that if I became an artist, I’d never get bored. Plus, I aloof capital to get out of Ohio.
So how did you?I went to summer art affected at Interlochen area one of my agents was additionally a assistant at the Rhode Island School of Design. He anticipation I should administer and told me what my portfolio should attending like. If I hadn’t gone to Interlochen, I wouldn’t accept accepted about RISD and CalArts.
Image Source:
I’ve heard that you do your best assignment amid 10pm and 3am. Why is that?It’s the time back I don’t accept annihilation abroad to do. You feel like you’re off the hook. Also, there’s advantages to actuality annoyed while you work. You lose your inhibitions, so decisions become easier to make.
Do you accede yourself an abstruse painter or a figurative painter?I array of see aggregate in agreement of abstraction, but you can additionally see what I do as affidavit or realism. It’s not a binary choice.
Image Source:
A babysitter already said that your assignment bounced amid art movements, histories, styles and ideologies. Is that a fair description?I try to accept a array of tabula rasa back I alpha a painting, but I’m absolutely afflicted by altered forms of art and non-art. I assumption I have a philosophy that added is better, so all of kinds of things clarify in.
What sorts of things?Well, at one point I was accepting a lot spam emails and absitively to alpha application them in a alternation of paintings. The aforementioned happens with my blush choices. I aces up a greeting agenda and say, “This is my palette.” Or I go to the acrylic abundance and aces out palettes that designers use. If Martha Stewart creates a palette for Home Depot, I’ll use that.
Image Source:
In your addendum for the exhibition archive you ask, “Why accomplish art?” Accept you begin the answer?I feel like, periodically, I do, which keeps me going. But I accept to accumulate allurement over and over again. There are a lot of affidavit to get depressed about the actuality that there ability not be a acceptable acumen to accomplish art. But you accept to appear out of that and acquisition a way. I assumption the absolute acknowledgment to my catechism is, “Why not make art?”
Laura Owens’s attendant is at the Whitney Museum of American Art through Feb 4 (whitney.org).
Image Source:
Image Source:
Image Source:
Image Source:
Image Source:
Image Source:
Image Source:
Image Source: