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Lot Essay
"My work gets created in this space of freedom, and that’s why a lot of it has to do with experimentation, invention, and sort of a juxtaposition of things you wouldn’t normally juxtapose." -- Laura Owens
The present lot, Untitled (2004), was created for the Democratic fundraising event "Art Works Hard For Money" organized by the political action group Downtown for Democracy in conjunction with Gavin Brown's enterprise at Passerby. Proceeds of the auction went towards supporting the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, an election about which Owens was deeply passionate. “This generation has yet to find its Bobby Kennedy," Owens said. "There's a hunger."
Untitled is representative of Owens’s work; large in scale, sparse in composition and light in palette. “My work gets created in this space of freedom,” says Owens, “and that’s why a lot of it has to do with experimentation, invention, and sort of a juxtaposition of things you wouldn’t normally juxtapose.” A playful fusion of abstract and realistic elements occurs in Untitled -- a life-sized soldier dressed in early American attire occupies an abstract dreamscape comprised of great red and blue washes. This Folk art meets Fauvism style is characteristic of Owen’s entire oeuvre, drawing on a comprehensive array of sources from fine art, needlework and wallpaper to Asian art, to form her whimsical works.
The present lot, Untitled (2004), was created for the Democratic fundraising event "Art Works Hard For Money" organized by the political action group Downtown for Democracy in conjunction with Gavin Brown's enterprise at Passerby. Proceeds of the auction went towards supporting the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, an election about which Owens was deeply passionate. “This generation has yet to find its Bobby Kennedy," Owens said. "There's a hunger."
Untitled is representative of Owens’s work; large in scale, sparse in composition and light in palette. “My work gets created in this space of freedom,” says Owens, “and that’s why a lot of it has to do with experimentation, invention, and sort of a juxtaposition of things you wouldn’t normally juxtapose.” A playful fusion of abstract and realistic elements occurs in Untitled -- a life-sized soldier dressed in early American attire occupies an abstract dreamscape comprised of great red and blue washes. This Folk art meets Fauvism style is characteristic of Owen’s entire oeuvre, drawing on a comprehensive array of sources from fine art, needlework and wallpaper to Asian art, to form her whimsical works.