Third contribution to Foundwork Ruth Owens (@ruthowensart) is one of the latest artists featured in our Guest Curators program on Foundwork. Owens was chosen by Kalup Linzy (Kalup Linzy Studio), an acclaimed American video and performance artist and currently a 2019 Tulsa Artist Fellow. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ About Owens’ work, Linzy remarks that her “well balanced compositions and emotional use of colors with children as subjects, give semblance of an adult still connected to childhood memories. Although her brushstrokes lean toward something abstract, the emotions of the artist and her subjects aren’t forfeited. Her execution draws the viewer in more, hankering them to spend more time engaging with her narratives." ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Speaking about her own work, which Owens identifies as being frequently based on old super-eight footage from family home videos, she relates that “each painting is rooted in a pivotal memory from childhood and represents a psychologically intense moment of personal influence, set in a culture of racial divide...Negotiating psychological and cultural tensions is my driving force, and my communicative tools lie in a very expressive and organic method of painting. The surfaces are scratched, left bare, glopped on, and dripped on for a mood consistent with the emotive content of the image. The surface not only becomes a metaphor for the vulnerability of our physical bodies, but it further represents an attempt to embrace a fluidity of racial identity in order to subvert the prescribed identity dictated by our dominant culture.” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Ruth Owens was born in 1959 in New Orleans, LA, where she is currently based. We invite you to see more work by Owens and read her additional artist text on her Foundwork profile. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Artwork Images (in order of display): ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ “Best Birthday” (2018). Oil on canvas. 48 x 48 x 3 in. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ “Baby Love” (2018). Oil on canvas. 36 x 48 x 2 in. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ “Boy Guide” (2017). Oil on canvas. 40 x 60 x 2 in. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ “Halfbrothers” (2018). Oil on canvas. 24 x 30 x 2 in. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #RuthOwens #KalupLinzy Tulsa Artist Fellowship #painting #universityofneworleans @university_of_new_orleans #foundworkart #foundworkguestcu https://www.instagram.com/p/BuzTJqhlwgD/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1w16m1clzfwme
