Tangible Lines Catalog by The Lionheart Gallery

TANGIBLE LINES BARBARA OWEN

“You might not recognize that initial Bloom shape, but it’s there,” said the artist, whose work has been featured in many curated and juried exhibitions in the Northeast. “If you look at the evolution of my work, I’m a painter who then turned to paper as a means of continuing to develop this language, the Bloom language.”

Barbara Owen

TANGIBLE LINES by Barbara Owen Featured at the Lionheart Gallery New Exhibition opens on March 4, 2017 through April 30, 2017 The Lionheart Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibit Tangible Lines by Barbara Owen from March 4 to April 30, 2017. Tangible Lines is the most recent interpretation of Owen’s sculptural forms and at works composed entirely of cut paper. Owen, who divides her time between Pawtucket, R.I., and Brooklyn, N.Y., creates drawings in three dimensions—literally. One thinks of paper as a material traditionally used to draw “upon.” Owen ips this tradition on its head by using the paper as the line itself. Just as one chooses a pencil or chalk for its ne or fat line, Owen achieves this same variation by “drawing” with an X-ACTO knife. With this in mind, Owen has developed a body of work focusing on the line as physical and presenting it as a form. In these highly colorful, intricate and delicate compositions, the artist is experimenting with depth, superposition and inviting the viewer to examine the subtle boundary between at work and the third dimension. Using hand-painted paper, the artist meticulously cuts out her iconic shapes, leaving them whole or retaining a simple boundary, before assembling them into compositions that she considers drawings in space, the end result being colorful and vibrant abstractions. Tangible Lines will feature a mix of installation pieces as well as framed pieces. All of the works are new and created speci cally for the exhibit. Inspired by the artist’s previous body of work, the “Bloom” series, typically oil on canvas, this new paper series takes the Bloom shapes as a starting point. “You might not recognize that initial Bloom shape, but it’s there,” said the artist, whose work has been featured in many curated and juried exhibitions in the Northeast. “If you look at the evolution of my work, I’m a painter who then turned to paper as a means of continuing to develop this language, the Bloom language.” The outcome—quietly incandescent like the lyrical abstraction of Thelonius Monk—will be on view in the exhibit Tan- gible Lines, running from March 4 to April 30 at The Lionheart Gallery in Pound Ridge, N.Y. The opening reception is March 4, from 4 – 7 PM, with a snow date of March 5. A talk by the artist is scheduled for 4 PM on April 8. The Lionheart Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday, from 11 AM to 5 PM, and Sunday from noon to 5 PM For more information and directions to the gallery at 27 Westchester Avenue in Pound Ridge, N.Y., visit the website at www.thelionheartgallery.com or call the gallery at 914.764.8689.

TANGIBLE LINES BARBARA OWEN

Black Sumac, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 85” x 43”

Letter of Intent, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 33.5” x 28.25”

Black Lines, Blue Reflection, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 17.25” x 21.25”

Only (Red Reflection), 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 26” x 21.75”

Lines Drawn with Paper, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 48” x 33”

Spinning Orange II (Blue and Gold), 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 35” x 25”

Ink Blooms (Red Dance), 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 36” x 28.5”

Lines and Outlines II, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 14” x 11”

Lines and Outlines IV, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 14” x 11”

Painted and Cut Circles I, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 29” x 23”

Painted and Cut Circles II, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 29” x 23”

Rosy Pink Puff, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 45” x 43”

Puff of Red, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 35” x 29”

Calligraphy, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 52” x 28”

Twist, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 18” x 14”

Cascade of Clouds, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 26” x 21”

Palm, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 15” x 17”

Two Ideas, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 40” x 32”

Miss Havisham, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 30” x 34”

Wisp (Wall Installation), 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper Size Variable

Puff of Blue, 2017 Ink and Acrylic on Cut Paper 29” x 20”

ARTSY EDITORIAL BY DOUGLAS P. CLEMENT

IN TANGIBLE LINES AT THE LIONHEART GALLERY, BARBARA OWEN PUSHES BOUNDARIES OF DRAWING IN TANGIBLE LINES AT THE LIONHEART GALLERY, BARBARA PUSHES OFa DRAWING The Swiss-born German artist PaulOWEN Klee once said, “ABOUNDARIES drawing is simply line going for a walk.” InThe herSwiss-born new exhibit, Tangible Lines, through 30 at The Lionheart Gallery Ridge, N.Y., German artist Paulrunning Klee once said,April “A drawing is simply a line going in forPound a walk.” Barbara Owen creates drawings that don’t just go for a walk—they dance in three dimensions and even literally leapexhibit, off the wall in some cases. In her new Tangible Lines, running through April 30 at The Lionheart Gallery in Pound Ridge, N.Y., Barbara Owen creates drawings that don’t just go for a walk—they dance in three dimensions and even literally leap off the wall in some cases.

Left to Right: Calligraphy, Twist and Cascade of Clouds, Palm, Two Ideas, by Barbara Owen

Owen, whoCalligraphy divides ,her between Pawtucket, R.I.,Ideas and N.Y., creates drawings in Left to Right: Twisttime and Cascade of Clouds , Palm, Two , byBrooklyn, Barbara Owen three dimensions. Owen, who divides her time between Pawtucket, R.I., and Brooklyn, N.Y., creates drawings in three dimensions. Instead of drawing on paper, the artist uses cut up, hand-painted paper as the line itself. She’s drawing with an X-ACTO knife, creating lines with snaking physicality and presenting compositions of abstractly interminInstead on possess paper, the artist uses cut up, hand-painted paper as the line itself. She’s drawing with gled linesofasdrawing forms that sculptural qualities. an X-ACTO knife, creating lines with snaking physicality and presenting compositions of abstractly intermingled lines as forms that possess sculptural qualities.

Left to Right: Only (Red Reflection), Black Lines Blue Reflection, Letter of Intent, by Barbara Owen Left to Right: Only (Red Reflection), Black Lines Blue Reflection, Letter of Intent, by Barbara Owen The resulting colorful, intricate and sometimes bold, sometimes delicate compositions combine a sense of almost primal beauty with more cerebral explorations of color relationships, depth, superposition and the The resulting colorful, intricate and sometimes bold, sometimes delicate compositions combine a sense of boundaries between representation and abstraction. almost primal beauty with more cerebral explorations of color relationships, depth, superposition and the boundaries between representation and abstraction. Owen considers these works drawings in space, and the three-dimensionality suggests a certain warping ofOwen time, considers or maybe these it’s more thatdrawings the drawings feel and like the when an intense or important was works in space, the moment three-dimensionality suggests a certainmood warping frozen in time. of time, or maybe it’s more that the drawings feel like the moment when an intense or important mood was

frozen in time. Tangible Lines features a series of framed drawings, displayed alongside exceptional wall-mounted installations.

Owen considers these works drawings in space, and the three-dimensionality suggests a certain warping of time, or maybe it’s more that the drawings feel like the moment when an intense or important mood was frozen in time. Tangible Lines features a series of framed drawings, displayed alongside exceptional wall-mounted installations.

Left to Right: Miss Havisham, Rosy Pink Puffs, Puff of Red, by Barbara Owen

The installation piece that quietly steals the show is a flowing study in white-upon-white entitled Miss Havisham, in reference to the spectral spinster in Dickens’ novel “Great Expectations.” A billowing torso of a work, it possesses serene beauty even as the title inspires subtle shivers. Another installation piece, Puff of Red, is like pure jaunty thought, and from one perspective viewers can take in Miss Havisham in the foreground and the starkly contrasting Puff of Red in the background. It’s like experiencing a novel with two vastly different endings.

Left to Right: Black Sumac, Ink Blooms (Red Dance), Lines Drawn with Paper, by Barbara Owen

Among the framed drawings, Black Sumac is a mesmerizing tour de force. It’s such a powerful manifestation of the pure feeling, impossible to articulate, that comes from the brilliance of nature and seasons abstracted. Inspired by the a previous body of work, the Bloom series, typically oil on canvas, this new paper series takes the Bloom shapes as a starting point. “You might not recognize that initial Bloom shape, but it’s there,” Owen has said. “If you look at the evolution of my work, I’m a painter who then turned to paper as a means of continuing to develop this language, the Bloom language.”

Left to Right: Lines and Outlines II, Lines and Outlines IV, Spinning Orange II (Blue and Gold), by Barbara Owen

The results remain on view through April 30 at The Lionheart Gallery in Pound Ridge, N.Y. The artist is scheduled to give a talk April 8 at 4 p.m., with a snow date of April 9. The Lionheart Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. For more information and directions to the gallery at 27 Westchester Avenue in Pound Ridge, N.Y., visit the website at www.thelionheartgallery.com or call the gallery at 914.764.8689.

WRITTEN BY DOUGLAS P. CLEMENT

LIONHEART FIVE AN INTERVIEW WITH BARBARA OWEN

interview by gallery director susan d. grissom

This catalogue was published to accompany the TANGIBLE LINES Exhibition at The Lionheart Gallery. Barbara Owen TANGIBLE LINES, March 2017 All images copyright of the artist. Images of the works are reproduced courtesy of the artist and The Lionheart Gallery. Curated by Susan Grissom Designed by Chelsea Walsh Press Release and Review by Douglas P. Clement All rights reserved. No part of this book may be produced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission in writing of the copyright holder and The Lionheart Gallery. 914 764 8689 www.thelionheartgallery.com 27 Westchester Avenue, Pound Ridge, NY 10576