“I feel like there’s a space of personal freedom for me where my art-making happens. When I go to that space, I’m completely in this world of possibility. There’s no inner emotional state that I could compare it to; it’s a space that has its own properties, and they don’t have to do with happy or sad or any of that… 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.”
E nchanting and lyrical, Laura Owens' Untitled (L0313) showcases through a vibrant palette, fabled creatures in a tender embrace, illustrating the artist's mastery of a wide array of contemporary motifs and traditions. Rendered in electric blue, emerald green, and violet, the present work offers a mythical forest-like scene of two nymphs passionately curling into each other. One of the most innovative and significant artists of her generation, Owens' was honored with a mid-career retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2018, where the present work was highlighted in one of the main galleries. Throughout her career, Owens' has focused on pushing the boundaries of what painting can achieve. From the outset, her works were marked by an adoption of multifarious sources and references – embroidery, textiles, texts, and decorative patterns. The euphoric playfulness in the present work is reminiscent of works of Hellenistic works of Greek mythology, yet through her delightful pictorial elegance and use of color, Owens' achieves a truly unique and contemporary composition.
In his catalogue essay for Owens’ exhibition at LAMOCA in 2003, Paul Schimmel observed, “Unlike many postmodern artists, whose works are characterized by the seamless appropriation or cut-and-paste of various pre-existing elements, Owens makes no effort to cover up her inspirations or to couch them in irony - nor does she limit herself to borrowing from others" (Paul Schimmel, Laura Owens (Los Angeles (CA): The Museum of Contemporary Art), page 29). Beyond the straightforward beauty of Owens’ paintings is a constant questioning of her chosen media. She has rejected naturalism in favor of depictions, representations, and interpretations of sourced material. Through combining abstract elements like the folliage surrounding the nymphs with representational elements like the figures themselves, Owens creates a highly personal vocabulary: a vocabulary which translates into an elaborate, elegant, and quietly exuberant whole. Such co-existence of styles, techniques, and motifs is the focal point in Owens’ acclaimed early oeuvre which channels collects ive creativity, perfectly exemplified in the present work.
