Laura Owens is a painter currently based in Los Angeles, California. Originally from Euclid, Ohio, the artist’s paintings tend to reference many different historical painting techniques and movements, through the lens of representational animal and landscape portraits.

The artist’s studio looks rather unassuming in these images from Owens’ portfolio. Owens has used her studio as an installation space, a collaborative space and a makeshift art gallery, much like fellow artist Yinka Shonibare. I wonder if the works on the walls are Owens’ own, or those of some artist friends? Whether they are hers or not, they lend a certain homey quality to the studio – wouldn’t it be lovely to hang paintings by friends or artists you admire in your own studio, for inspiration?

Other than that the studio looks fairly unassuming, and reminds me a little of an art classroom. There is a desk and seating area where the artist might work on sketches or plans, or do research – and in the back is a large storage space probably full of many different colours of paint. These photos appear in Owens’ own portfolio, further reinforcing the way she views her studio space as an artwork in its own right. The quality of the above and below photos lends the studio a nostalgic-polaroid sort of charm.

Owens was featured in a retrospective in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in 2004, making her the youngest artist every to have a retrospective at that museum. Together with Frances Stark and Sharon Lockhart she is part of a group of artist now known as the L.A. Women Artists. 

[image source 1]

[image source 2]