Contact@The Beverly Owens Project

Sluts,Virgins,Queers: A Search For Perspective 

May 1-MAY 31, 2010
 
This show will be part of CONTACT Photography Festival. This show has been listed in Now Magazine as a ‘Must See Show” for The Contact Photography Festival.  
Owens re-appropriates the grid formation used in Vitruvian-styled perspectives, or more specifically in response to woman, men, advertising and the direct focus to the product: The Human Body. The body sells. Sex sells. Be perfect. Buy this to be that. Symmetrical theories of the Renaissance have a suggestive Superman quality, a male ideal- the Vitruvian man as homogeneous being. Owens’ photographic work in encaustic/metal creates an ebb and flow of the malleable and the rigid, reflecting human polarities.

Arabella Art, Architecture and Design Magazine did a feature on Owens as an artist to collect:
http://www.arabelladesign.ca/Beverly_Owens.htm
Taryn Black of The Globe and Mail’s Lush Magazine interviewed Owens for her upcoming show in the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival “ the youth of her space has no relevance to the movement she has brought to the city…her version{of encaustic} remains uniquely distinct in the city”. Reviewing her metal work Black States: Owens will display a search for a “real” human element. ‘Mr. Orange’ makes a statement about the way women are typically represented. Instead, She displays men to be inspected, “intimately and disarmed, which is probably really how they really want to be seen.”
 
Owens’ love of art cinema (one of her favourite directors is Michelangelo Antonioni) helps to explain the process which has led to her unique style. Critics use terms  such as ‘coolly elegant,” “open ended” “haunting yet familiar.” Owens recreates haunting, humorous all-too-poignant memories from the past- Beautiful but not pretty.

Owens recently won the curator’s choice award at The Elaine Fleck Gallery and two awards at The Artist Project Toronto 2008, 2010. An extensive review on Owens in Arabella magazine: Canadian Art, Architecture and Design will be coming out late Spring as well as an interview in The Globe and Mail Magazine Lush. Blogto editor Derek Flack asserts “Encaustic painting is experiencing a resurgence, and the Beverly Owens Project is one of the best places in the city to see it….with Owens own work.” Owens continues to be a highly collected artist. Her work is found in collections throughout Canada, United States and Europe. Owens has been a favourite of corporate collectors such as Nine West head office, president of EBAY Canada, Mark Lash Designs, The Gluckstein Design Group, and Oni One. Excitedly commissioned by Canada’s preeminent art collectors the Ydessa Hendeles family. THE BEVERLY OWENS PROJECT
A Contemporary gallery studio which not only shows the work of Beverly Owens but highlights the work emerging artists.

Curator Michelle Cox 
info@thebeverlyowensproject.com Hours: Wednesday- Friday 12-6 pm Saturday & Sunday 11-5 pm
or by appointment 647-402-3570

1140 Queen St West Toronto, Ontario
M6J 1J3 (steps from The Drake Hotel)
www.thebeverlyowensproject.com