Luke Owen Press-Release

Luke Owen’s art can be defined as unique. His work is powerful, emotive, challenging and honest and never fails to evoke an emotional response in the viewer. Owen utilises a variety of techniques to express his creativity, his most preferred being his bare hands and fingers which enable an unimpeded flow of creative energy directly onto canvas. He works with different mediums, ranging from pastels and oils to acrylics, in a variety of different sizes from small scale to large 8ft by 6ft peices.

Owen’s creative process is triggered by his observations of his own life and the life experiences of others. A brief, passing conversation with a stranger is as likely to catalyse the string of mental impressions he experiences, as much as a lengthy philosophical discussion with peers and like minds.

Luke Owen is gifted with the ability to translate thoughts, feelings and observations into instant mental imagery. He never has a need to ‘think’ about or spend hours or longer sketching what he needs to paint. Every day offers a pool of imagery as it leaves its impression. This artist’s mind holds an ever growing storehouse of works of art waiting to be painted.

When he paints in pastels the finished piece can tend to take anything between one hour to a whole day. His acrylics and oils will take days, sometimes weeks to complete. Owen enjoys the immediacy of working in pastels as this technique does not restrict his urge to fully release the creative energy that has built up within him. Working in pastels affords Owen the luxury of putting finger to canvas and releasing the full outpouring of that energy. That said he has a great appreciation for the depth and feeling that working in oils and acrylics lends to his art, the longevity these mediums offers his work and the patience that is required to bring a piece to fruition.

IHis debut exhibition at The New Street Gallery in Penzance is a collection of nearly thirty pieces that follow the journey of his life over these past four years. The work exposes the ‘long dark night of the soul’ that he has passed through since October ‘04 to date. Owen arrived in Cornwall four years ago, a shadow of himself and it is this shadow that preoccupied him, knowing that in the integration of his shadow, eventually he would emerge like the phoenix rising from the ashes. Every one of his paintings depict a stand alone story line telling of an excruciating, profound and liberating process.

Owen’s work is refreshingly original, provocative and inspired. There appears to be a constant striving for the balance of opposites; shadow and light, love and pain, divinity and humanness. HIs work is striking, each piece a journey, a story, not created from fantasy or escapist experimentation, but from his own experiences. Owen feels that in exposing and sharing his own story, catharsis and healing through his art work, this might prove a gift to others and perhaps serve as a healing, a reconciling of their own inner conflict or a reminder of the ‘more than’ that life can be. His work is inspirational and remarkably grounded. Those who have viewed Owen’s work are often left feeling deeply impacted. His imagery invokes unexpected responses in the viewer and serves as a mirror and support for those unexplored, unhealed places within to come into the light of consciousness for healing and resolution.

Owen is a traveller, an explorer of both the inner world and outer terrain. His base is the south west of England where he seeks inspiration from a wild, elemental landscape, wide open moors, the ever-changing moods and colours of the ocean, the rivers, streams, sacred groves, holy wells and ancient sites. Luke Owen veers toward the bohemian in terms of culture and people. His is a life that has been lived, more often than not, on the edge. ‘Inordinately calm’ is how this artist is described by all who encounter him and it is this character trait that has proven to be his ace card in seeing him through many challenging experiences in a life that has a palate of many colours; defined in his earlier years by its darker shades and more recently, a balance being struck, an integration of all colours. Owen is enigmatic and exudes a gentle, powerful and charismatic presence.

Luke Owen’s work is hard to define in terms of genre, as there doesn’t seem to be anything in the art world quite like it. His artwork exposes a gap in the market and like the proverbial missing jigsaw piece, his work fills this gap perfectly. He describes his art as “transcendent, extra-dimensional, humanistic and transpersonal”. HIs images travel deep into the psyche often triggering a necessary and timely personal process for the observer. There is an unashamed honesty in his work, each piece striking a perfect balance of power and vulnerability. Owen’s work can be provocative, a call to enquiry and is as much an inner, subjective experience as an external, objective one.

If you are looking for art that appeases and requires little engagement then you might be in for a surprise. The honesty of Owen’s work can be challenging to view, it may evoke memory and it will inspire. It beautifully illustrates the full spectrum of human emotion. His images move people to tears as they are reminded, through his artwork, of their own forgotten places of feeling, of longing, of their own inner depths and profound inner beauty. Viewing Owen’s ongoing journey through his art, speaks to the same within ourselves. To gaze upon this gifted artist’s creative expressions is an experience and will touch you on many levels.

Luke Owen’s work is inspired entirely by his own process and life experience. Owen himself is well rooted in psychological awareness and has an open and expansive view on life. The images he paints speak to ‘human being’, conveying the exquisite fragility of our humanness, the regenerative powers of the heart and the beauty of being alive. This work has a voice and Owen’s growing reputation will ensure that voice grows louder.

For more information please contact: lukeowen@lukeowen.com

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