Gerald Owens

Russian River 1990 | 36"x50" acrylic on canvas | 85.14.05

Quoting Plato, “art is not an image of beauty but of reality”. Feeding the viewer's hunger for a memory of reality and a spirit of times past is his objective. An interpretive approach to a subject in conjunction with ambiance is reflected in the creativity of his work. Composition and value relationships are primary.  It is an act of love that he paints.

He "learned to draw on United Airlines". As a businessman traveling extensively, his downtime was spent drafting, composing and painting, some in most unusual circumstances. A life journal in the form of sketchbooks fill his studio.  Poetry and philosophy are often randomly found on pieces that serve as his own docent and paint a picture of the meaning and purpose of his work.

Owens never outgrew his passion for developing a language with a brush. His varied interest in styles, subject, technique and medium are obvious as you will see.  Primarily self taught, his most influential mentors were Robert Brackman, of the New York Art Students League, and Milford Zornes, a master painter, teacher and a better human being.

Memphis 1968 | 6.25"x7" oil pastel | 86.14.05

© 2015 Inland Empire Museum of Art
All Art © by The Artist