Laura Owens

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Laura Owens
Born1970 (age 50–51)
Euclid, Ohio
Alma materRhode Island School of Design,
California Institute of the Arts
Known forPainting, Gallery Owner
Viewer looking at a Laura Owen's painting
Viewer looking at an Owens painting

Laura Owens (born 1970) is an American painter, gallery owner and educator. She emerged in the late 1990s from the Los Angeles art scene. She is known for large-scale paintings that combine a variety of art historical references and painterly techniques. She lives and works in Los Angeles, California.[1]

In 2013, she turned her studio work space into an exhibition space called 356 Mission, in collaboration with art dealer Gavin Brown and Wendy Yao. Soon after, she hosted a second location with the art bookstore Ooga Booga #2 in the front of the building.[2] The 356 Mission art space closed in 2019, due to the lease ending.[3]

In 2003 Owens had her first survey exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Owens’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions at Secession, Vienna (2015); Kunstmuseum Bonn (2011); Bonnefanten Museum (2007); Kunsthalle Zürich (2006); Camden Arts Centre, London (2006); Milwaukee Art Museum (2003); Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (2003); and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, (2001). Owens had a mid-career survey at the Whitney Museum Of American Art from November 2017 to February 2018.

Early life and education[]

Owens was born in 1970 in Euclid, Ohio and raised in nearby Norwalk, Ohio.[4] She received her B.F.A. in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1992.[5] After graduation she moved to Los Angeles for graduate school. In 1994 she attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and received her M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts the same year.[6][7]

Work[]

In 2015, Owens made paintings based on World War II-era newspaper stereotype plates she discovered underneath the shingle siding of her Los Angeles home.[8] Like much of her recent work, the paintings combined traditional oil paint with screen printed images digitally manipulated in Adobe Photoshop.

In addition to painting, Owens also creates artists' books.[9] As of 2016, she teaches classes at ArtCenter College of Design.[10]

Owen's work can be found in many public art collections including, the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago;[11] the Museum of Modern Art, New York;[12] the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Los Angeles;[13] the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles;[14] the Guggenheim Museum in New York, New York;[15] the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York;[16] the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Chicago;[17] and the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee.[18]

Controversy[]

Owens' paintings at a 2013 exhibit at 356 Mission

In January 2013, Owens exhibited 12 new paintings in a building at 356 Mission Road, across the river from Downtown Los Angeles.[19] Owens continued to run this space, 356 Mission as an exhibition space in collaboration with Gavin Brown and Wendy Yao.[20][21] In May 2018, 356 Mission closed after their 5 year lease came to an end.[22] The bookstore Ooga Booga remains open at its original store location in Chinatown, Los Angeles.[10]

Laura Owens and Gavin Brown have been accused of being involved with gentrification of a predominantly working-class, Hispanic neighborhood with their non-profit gallery 356 Mission in the neighborhood of Boyle Heights, on the east side of Los Angeles.[23] Activists of various anti-gentrification groups have protested their galleries and exhibitions in both Los Angeles and New York City.[24] Owens alleges protesters have bullied and threatened her, including death threats.[23] In November 2017, she penned a public statement regarding the issues, after her mid-career survey art exhibition opening at the Whitney Museum of American Art was protested.[25] The 356 Mission art space closed in 2019, due to the lease ending.[3]

Awards and honors[]

Owens was awarded the inaugural Bâloise Prize at Art Basel in 1999,[26] received the Willard L. Metcalf Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2001,[27][28] and was a Guna S. Mundheim Visual Arts Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin in the spring of 2007.[29] In 2015, she was awarded the Robert De Niro, Sr. prize for her painting practice.[30]

Exhibitions[]

Solo exhibitions[]

Group exhibitions[]

  • 2016: La collection Thea Westreich Wagner et Ethan Wagner, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris[40]

References[]

  1. ^ "Collection Online: Laura Owens". Guggenheim Museum. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  2. ^ Tarmy, James (2015-03-30). "If You Go to Only One Gallery in L.A., Go Here". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "Artist-run space 356 Mission is leaving Boyle Heights. Founders Laura Owens and Wendy Yao explain why". Los Angeles Times. 2018-03-30. Retrieved 2020-02-28. Our lease was ending and we felt it was the right time. After five years of doing what we wanted to do, we felt that for personal and practical reasons that we had had a great experience and this is the right moment to close. The lease ends at the end of June. We will be closing in May.
  4. ^ Slenske, Michael (2018-11-26). "Laura Owens: Between the shadows". LA Times. Retrieved 2019-04-24.
  5. ^ "The Forever Now". Our RISD. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  6. ^ "Laura Owens".
  7. ^ "Laura Owens Biography". Artnet.com. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  8. ^ "Laura Owens July 2 - August 30, 2015". Secession. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  9. ^ "Review: Artist Laura Owens makes books unlike any other books you've seen". Los Angeles Times. 2019-12-06. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Miranda, Carolina A. (2018-03-30). "Artist-run space 356 Mission is leaving Boyle Heights. Founders Laura Owens and Wendy Yao explain why". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  11. ^ "Collection: Owens, Laura". The Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  12. ^ "Laura Owens". The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  13. ^ "Laura Owens". The Museum of Contemporary Art.
  14. ^ "Laura Owens - LACMA Collections". collections.lacma.org.
  15. ^ http://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/laura-owens
  16. ^ "Laura Owens". whitney.org.
  17. ^ "Laura Owens, Untitled, 1998". MCA.
  18. ^ "Laura Owens - Milwaukee Art Museum". collection.mam.org.
  19. ^ "Lehrer-Graiwer, Sarah. "Optical Drive." Artforum International 51.7 (2013): 230-239" (PDF).
  20. ^ "If You Go To Only One Gallery in LA, Go Here". Bloomberg. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  21. ^ "356 Mission". 356mission.com. Retrieved 2017-01-04.
  22. ^ "356 S. Mission Rd. in Los Angeles to Close". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2019-04-24.
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b "Laura Owens Responds To Anti-Gentrification Protesters, Cites Death Threats". Frieze. 2017-11-17. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
  24. ^ "Anti-Gentrification Activists Protest Laura Owens Exhibition at the Whitney Museum". Hyperallergic. 2017-11-10. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
  25. ^ "Laura Owens Responds to Anti-Gentrification Protests of Her Boyle Heights Gallery". Hyperallergic. 2017-11-14. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
  26. ^ "Baloise Art Prize" (PDF). Baloise.com. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  27. ^ "artnet.com Magazine News". www.artnet.com. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  28. ^ "American Academy of Arts and Letters - Award Winners". www.artsandletters.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  29. ^ "Laura Owens". American Academy in Berlin. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  30. ^ "Laura Owens Wins 2015 Robert De Niro, Sr. Prize". Artforum. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  31. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h "Dallas Museum of Art Presents Nationally Touring Exhibition 'Laura Owens,' a Mid-Career Survey of the American Artist". ArtfixDaily. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  32. ^ Villarreal, Ignacio. "Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht Presents Laura Owens". artdaily.com. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  33. ^ "Artist Talk with Laura Owens". American Academy in Berlin. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  34. ^ "LAURA OWENS: Kunstmuseum Bonn". www.kunstmuseum-bonn.de. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  35. ^ "Laura Owens « secession". www.secession.at. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  36. ^ "Laura Owens at CCA Wattis Institute a pulse-quickening experience". SFGate. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
  37. ^ Tuchman, Phyllis (2018-01-04). "The Sky Is the Limit: Laura Owens Is in Top Form in Superb Whitney Museum Retrospective". ARTnews. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
  38. ^ "DMA Explores Artist's Evolution During Dallas Arts Month". NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  39. ^ "Laura Owens". The Museum of Contemporary Art. Retrieved 2019-04-24.
  40. ^ Villarreal, Ignacio. "Whitney Museum of American Art presents Collected by Thea Westreich Wagner and Ethan Wagner". artdaily.com. Retrieved 2018-04-28.

External links[]

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