Brent Owens
BIO
Brent Owens (b. 1980, in Spartanburg, South Carolina) received a BFA with an emphasis in Sculpture from Winthrop University, South Carolina, in 2003. He currently lives and works in New York City.
In his formative years in Western North and South Carolina, Appalachian folk-craft, a Southern Baptist upbringing, and Southern Gothic Literature all imparted indelible influences on Owens’ work and life. His work, primarily sculptural and largely based in woodworking, fuses two disparate strains of Americana - workmanship and a thirst for novelty - in a particular strand of pop production that borders on the surreal. His work has been described by Hrag Vartanian of Hyperallergic as "Appalachian Moderne," and by James Kalm of the Brooklyn Rail as "Backroads Conceptualism" and "Redneck Dada." Owens’ longstanding involvement in the Bushwick, Brooklyn arts community has included three solo exhibitions at English Kills Art Gallery. He has also shown extensively in group exhibitions throughout New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Venice, Italy.