Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5

Ruth Owens
See Me Slopeside

2021

$4,100
£3,105.23
€3,627.08
CA$5,869.08
A$5,949.50
CHF 3,383.90
MX$72,422.18
NOK 39,689.85
SEK 39,786.85
DKK 27,112.42

About the Item

ARTIST STATEMENT RUTH OWENS graduated in 2018 with an MFA from the University of New Orleans after leaving her medical practice of 25 years. She is represented by Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, and belongs to the artist collectives: A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn and “The Front” in New Orleans. Artist residencies include the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, MA in 2019, the Vermont Studio Center in 2018, the Studios at MASS MoCA in 2021, and The Joan Mitchell Center 9/20 until 2/21. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Addison Gallery of American Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art. Notable solo shows include “Good Family,” 2019, The Front Gallery; “Identity Theft,” 2018, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery; “Baby Love,” 2018, University of New Orleans Gallery; “Conspiracies,” 2017, Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans; and “Stepin’ Out,” 2016, Xavier University Chapel Gallery, New Orleans. Ruth has participated in group exhibitions at the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Contemporary Art Center of New Orleans, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Addison Gallery of American Art, and the New Orleans Film Festival, 2019. The artist says of her work... “Debbie Do Dallas” read the handwritten label on a plain black VCR tape tucked in amongst my father’s collection of westerns and adventure movies. Viewing those words as a teenager caused me untold anguish, equally because of the grammatical failure to make subject and verb agree, as the thought of my father watching sexually explicit content. This intersection of personal familial relationships, and the cultural context that leads to inequality of resources, such as access to educational opportunities between those of African and European descent, is what underlies the impetus for my work. Straddling the divide between Teutonic and African ancestries, my concerns are more relevant than ever in our current polarized political milieu, and I attempt to tell my story from an intensely personal viewpoint. An approach to art making that includes both the very personal familial history and the interaction of that family with dominant cultural forces defines the crux of my work. It is with merciless candor that I bring untold family secrets, infidelities, addiction, and mental illness to the fore. 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. A Gerhardt Richter-like scrape of facial features denies placement of a figure within the confines of a preordained racial construct. Although we were not wealthy, my parents purchased a super-eight camera to record the now requisite footage of our childhood birthday parties and backyard antics in the 1960s and 1970s. This footage has proved to be an extremely valuable resource in mining my psychological past, and clips from these films have served as reference images for my paintings. However, instead of faithfully copying the images in a straightforward representational manner, I have attempted to heighten the emotional and visual impact by use of collage, color alterations, and compositional changes.
  • Creator:
    Ruth Owens (1959, American, German)
  • Creation Year:
    2021
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 13 in (33.02 cm)Width: 13 in (33.02 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Framing:
    Framing Options Available
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New Orleans, LA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU10528971592

More From This Seller

View All
How?

How?

By Ruth Owens

Located in New Orleans, LA

[ New Orleans, LA :: b.1959, Augsburg, Germany ] In 1959, Ruth Owens was born to a young German woman and a Black serviceman from Georgia. The nomadic military lifestyle of her chi...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Tante Tilly

Tante Tilly

By Ruth Owens

Located in New Orleans, LA

[ New Orleans, LA :: b.1959, Augsburg, Germany ] In 1959, Ruth Owens was born to a young German woman and a Black serviceman from Georgia. The nomadic military lifestyle of her chi...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Kristina Kay

Kristina Kay

By Ruth Owens

Located in New Orleans, LA

RUTH OWENS graduated in 2018 with an MFA from the University of New Orleans after leaving her medical practice of 25 years. She is represented by the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, and belongs to the artist collective, “The Front,” both in New Orleans. Owens’ work is concerned with contributing to and preserving the black archive, and she uses personal super-8 film references in her painting and video art. Artist residencies include the Joan Mitchell Center, the Addison Gallery...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Identity Theft

Identity Theft

By Ruth Owens

Located in New Orleans, LA

RUTH OWENS graduated in 2018 with an MFA from the University of New Orleans after leaving her medical practice of 25 years. She is represented by the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, and be...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Portrait of the Viewer as Hope

Portrait of the Viewer as Hope

By Sarah Jacobs

Located in New Orleans, LA

Sarah Jacobs is a contemporary maximalist artist. She is represented in NYC by Fremin Gallery, in Pittsburgh by Zynka Gallery, and in Erie by GlassGrowers Gallery. Her work has been ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

See Me, Countryside, study

See Me, Countryside, study

By Ruth Owens

Located in New Orleans, LA

Framed Dimensions: 13h x 10.25w in RUTH OWENS graduated in 2018 with an MFA from the University of New Orleans after leaving her medical practice of 25 years. She is represented by ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Paper, Casein, Pencil

You May Also Like

Zelda Zucker

Zelda Zucker

By Eric BESS

Located in Atlanta, GA

Helene and Eric Bess are a team who have been collaborating for over 20 years. Both are professional artists with extensive experience in both the commercial and fine art fields. They presently work out of their studio in Florida, creating original art for gallery display, fine art crafts and taking commissions for murals & embellishments. Helene was born in Canada in 1949. She studied art in Europe as a young adult and attended Phoenix Pratt School of Design in New York and St. Petersburg Community College in Florida. She worked for advertising agencies and freelance art projects such as theater design and t-shirt designs for several companies. She owned and operated an art studio (“Artistic Endeavors”) in Melbourne, Fl. for five years. She started doing murals and embellishments (residential and commercial) from 1992 till present. She considers her early life in Europe the major source of her artistic influence as well as the works of Modigliani. Eric was born in Missouri in 1950. He started drawing literally as an infant and has never stopped. He was taking commissions for book covers & wall designs in his teens and studied art at Auburn University and The University of Alabama. He taught art in public schools in Alabama in the ‘70s. He worked as art director at Huntsville Educational Television for 6 years, as art director at Southern Sportswear in Daytona for 9 years, at Creative Signs & Designs in Flagler, Fl. for 6 years, and as a freelance artist and co-owner (with his wife Helene) of “BessStudio” (formerly “Artistic Innovations Inc.”) since 1998. His artistic influences include Michelangelo, Vermeer, Blake, Maxfield Parish...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media

S.R. II

S.R. II

By June Glasson

Located in Bozeman, MT

June Glasson is an artist, illustrator, and designer. She live in Laramie, WY. Her paintings have been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London, Nature Morte Gallery in B...

Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

The Artist

The Artist

By Vera Barnett

Located in Dallas, TX

Vera Barnett is best known for creating elements of her composition—by sewing and painting plastic, building objects with cardboard and tape, and assembling found objects—then settin...

Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Zoe Zucker

Zoe Zucker

By Eric BESS

Located in Atlanta, GA

Helene and Eric Bess are a team who have been collaborating for over 20 years. Both are professional artists with extensive experience in both the commercial and fine art fields. They presently work out of their studio in Florida, creating original art for gallery display, fine art crafts and taking commissions for murals & embellishments. Helene was born in Canada in 1949. She studied art in Europe as a young adult and attended Phoenix Pratt School of Design in New York and St. Petersburg Community College in Florida. She worked for advertising agencies and freelance art projects such as theater design and t-shirt designs for several companies. She owned and operated an art studio (“Artistic Endeavors”) in Melbourne, Fl. for five years. She started doing murals and embellishments (residential and commercial) from 1992 till present. She considers her early life in Europe the major source of her artistic influence as well as the works of Modigliani. Eric was born in Missouri in 1950. He started drawing literally as an infant and has never stopped. He was taking commissions for book covers & wall designs in his teens and studied art at Auburn University and The University of Alabama. He taught art in public schools in Alabama in the ‘70s. He worked as art director at Huntsville Educational Television for 6 years, as art director at Southern Sportswear in Daytona for 9 years, at Creative Signs & Designs in Flagler, Fl. for 6 years, and as a freelance artist and co-owner (with his wife Helene) of “BessStudio” (formerly “Artistic Innovations Inc.”) since 1998. His artistic influences include Michelangelo, Vermeer, Blake, Maxfield Parish...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media

Untitled # 13

Untitled # 13

By A.J. Fries

Located in Buffalo, NY

A contemporary oil painting on linen by American artist A.J. Fries. Artist’s Statement: These works are an extension of a small series of realistic paintings that I did of graves...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Linen, Oil

No Title

No Title

By Anita Kapraljevic

Located in New York, NY

Anita Kapraljevic No TItle 2010 Oil on canvas 150 x 119 cm signed, titled and dated on verso Anita Kapraljevic is born in Mostar and lives in Berlin. She studied in Nürtingen Univer...

Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil