Adventure? Fairy tales?
Laura Owens – who was born in 1970 and lives in Los Angeles –is one of my favorites, hope you enjoy her works!
Owens succeeds in making painting a challenging adventure for both the eye and the intellect of the viewer, in a way that is seductive yet disturbing. Owens blends the traditions of art history with those of applied and naïve art and abstract themes. Instead of experiencing the art of the past as a burden, Owens manages to use the history of ‘making pictures’ as a force in her work.
I've always thought that, instead of making the day fit into your painting, you should make the painting fit into your day. A painting should fit into your life. I think that I picked up that idea from Mary Heilmann and her way of working. I met her when she was a visiting artist at Cal Arts, and she had a profound impact on me. Although she's extremely serious about what she's doing, she has a very casual approach to making a painting.
-- Laura Owens, Artforum, Summer 1999
