Untitled

Laura Owens

1996 · Acrylic and acrylic medium on cotton duck · Modern and Contemporary Art

In this early painting by Owens, blue and white impasto teardrops punctuate a thinly airbrushed background of soft, peachy colors. Small vignettes of the artist and her studio appear as both reflections upon and scenes within the gestural drops, providing visual and psychological insight into her artistic process. The counterclockwise spiral of the hard-edged triangular forms plays against the apparent randomness of the expressively rendered droplets, an idiosyncratic merging of different formal techniques. What results is a painting that reflects upon the often arbitrary division of historical styles (geometric abstraction and gestural expression) and tropes (non-objective and Pop Art imagery).

Artist

Laura Owens

Date

1996

Medium

Acrylic and acrylic medium on cotton duck

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of Norman Dubrow, 2015