Laura Owens

A major monograph on contemporary artist Laura Owens surveys her career and explores why she has become one of the most interesting and provocative painters of today. From her meteoric rise in the late ’90s and early 2000s, Laura Owens has set herself apart as an artist working through difficult territory in painting—the very terms of painting itself. At a time when a stern conceptualism dominated the painting landscape, Owens’ canvases shimmered with unabashed joy, figures, and acid-bright colors. Informed by art history, Owens possesses the rare ability to wield a variety of familiar styles without their stultifying weight, garnering critical praise for compositions at once playful and rigorous.
Shifting easily between materials and genres, Owens’ work refuses to commit to one identity. Some signature elements include a menagerie of abstract animals, a simple figurative style, an interest in history, and the lingering influence of Matisse, Gauguin, and Miro. This monograph will survey Owens’ influential career, but perhaps more importantly, it will be the first to critically assess the artist’s most recent work.

Rachel Kushner's novel, Telex from Cuba, was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award, winner of the California Book Award, and aNew York Times best seller. Trinie Dalton is an author, editor, and curator.Walead Beshty is an artist based in Los Angeles. Linda Norden is a curator, writer, and art historian.Mark Godfrey is a curator at Tate Modern, London. Suzanne Hudson is assistant professor of art history at the University of Southern California.