Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 6

Ruth Owens
Identity Theft

2019

$16,900
£12,785.46
€14,942.14
CA$24,187.50
A$24,576.56
CHF 13,923.20
MX$299,036.21
NOK 163,262.82
SEK 164,152.30
DKK 111,775.85

About the Item

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 of American Art, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Studios at MASS MoCA. She is slotted to attend the International Studio and Curatorial Program in NY in 2023. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Ackland Art Museum at UNC-Chapel Hill, the Addison Gallery of American Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Dale Center for the Study of War and Society, and 21c Museum. The artist says of her work… In the sixties, my father was stationed at a military base in the deep South for several years. Although it was prescribed by law, our mixed race family was perfectly happy to live in an exclusively African-American section of town. Our more respectable African-American neighbors refused to associate with us and we had very few friends, most of whom were marginalized by joblessness and alcoholism. A child of one of these families became a shadowy constant in our home. She had the typical facial features of fetal alcohol syndrome and we cared for her when her own mother was unable to do so. This girl’s struggles with alcoholic family problems echoed my own. We shared feelings of insecurity brought on by the alcoholism of her mother and my father. My paintings and videos are rooted in such pivotal memories from childhood that represent significant psychological moments, set in a culture of racial divide. My family’s personal narrative includes issues like alcoholism which can plague any race or culture. However, as a mixed-race person, cultural power differentials based on race or skin tone (colorism) affect me on a daily basis and must also be considered when telling my story. My communicative tools lie in an 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 manifest the concept of a fluid racial identity. My parents filmed events in my childhood with a Super 8 camera. This footage proves to be a valuable resource in mining my psychological past, and clips from these films serve as reference images for my paintings. To heighten the emotional and visual impact of these images, I use of collage, color alterations, compositional changes, and abstraction. Clips from the Super 8 footage are also used in my video work, along with contemporary clips of my children. Mixing up footage of my children with clips of my childhood causes distortion and confusion of time, and speaks to the idea that past traumas are recorded in genetic memory. The videos inform any exhibition of my oil or casein paintings, and reinforce the feeling of getting an intimate view of a mixed-race family’s personal story through a cultural lens.
  • Creator:
    Ruth Owens (1959, American, German)
  • Creation Year:
    2019
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 40 in (101.6 cm)Width: 40 in (101.6 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Framing:
    Framing Options Available
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New Orleans, LA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU105211063592

More From This Seller

View All
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

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

See Me Slopeside

See Me Slopeside

By Ruth Owens

Located in New Orleans, LA

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 G...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Paper, Casein

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

Doctor or Patient

Doctor or Patient

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 nomadi...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Krissy

Krissy

By Gina Phillips

Located in New Orleans, LA

Gina Phillips is a mixed media, narrative artist who grew up in Kentucky and has lived in New Orleans since 1995. The imagery, stories and characters of both regions influence her wo...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Fabric, Thread

You May Also Like

8010173

8010173

Located in Saint Louis, MO

Katinka Lampe 8010173, 2017 Oil on canvas 39.37 x 31.5 inches (100 x 80 cm)

Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Socialite

Socialite

By Patrick Pietropoli

Located in Boston, MA

Patrick Pietropoli was a teacher of political studies for several years before becoming a professional artist. Trained as both a painter and a sculptor, his oil on linen paintings ha...

Category

2010s Portrait Paintings

Materials

Copper

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

Translucent

Translucent

Located in New York, NY

Mysterious woman. Oil on canvas. Fab wallpaper background. About the artist: “There's a dry ironic twist to Paul’s paintings that give the work — while realistic — a postmodern feeling of reflection, observation and cultural critique. Somewhere between the Cohen Brothers...

Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Don't Get Caught

Don't Get Caught

Located in New York, NY

Female centric painting. On th edge.

Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

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