Viv Owen

“I pause video, take and edit digital photographs to make compositions. I paint freehand by observation using vibrant colour combinations to create multi-layered textural surfaces. The self-sourced images hold a deep personal resonance: I aim to intrigue and engage the viewer in equal measure”

Viv Owen largely blends her colours on the canvas, aiming to keep the vibrant and immediate reactions to her chosen subject. She works in oil paints because they remain malleable over time and have a great colour intensity.Vivid, gestural oil paintings display a fascination with facial expressions. With the help of unwitting accomplices captured from feature films and the television screen these fleeting expressions become visible as paintings, aiming to portray a key moment of anticipation or reaction that viewers will find puzzling and intriguing. Emotional entanglement with the artificial as a substitute – or perhaps immunisation against- the dramas of lived experience. The work can be enjoyed as an immersive wall of bright and dark images in which the viewer can find moments of insight, reflection  and recognition.

A resident of Bradford since completing her BA at Bradford College, followed by MA in Visual Art at Leeds in 2000. Part of artist’s studio groups in Yorkshire, including Bradford, Hebden Bridge and Wakefield. Exhibited in Hebden Bridge, Halifax, Thornton, Bradford, Leeds and from 2011 she regularly featured as part of Artwalk Wakefield.

Notable shows include: ‘Pause/Play’ - solo exhibition at The Project Space, Westgate Studios, Wakefield where paintings formed an imposing 7ft square ‘video wall’ installation. This exhibition was included in the Index Fringe Festival 2019 catalogue.

‘42 Sketchbooks’ - solo exhibition at Electric Angel Gallery in Scarborough, showcasing the ongoing ‘Daily Drawings’ project which began in January 2012.

‘Display’ - a curated selection of paintings, held in 2014 at Cupola Gallery in Sheffield, where she regularly exhibits, made possible by sponsorship.

London exhibitions include FLUX exhibition Marylebone in 2024, and in various locations with ARTCAN artists organisation,  including at The Crypt Gallery, St Pancras. LOOP: short film where images complete their journey from screen to painting and back again (funded by Yorkshire Visual Arts Network)

Viv Owen’s paintings are held by private collectors in the UK, Australia and the USA.