Tom Owen

b.1959

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Tom Owen is based in Newport, Kentucky across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio. His work has been exhibited for over twenty-five years in several US cities including New York, Miami, Santa Fe, Cincinnati, and the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been featured in several publications (print and online) and is in both private and corporate collections. While primarily self-taught, Owen holds a B.S. in English literature and an M.A. in psychology, both inform his art making. After a 2017 studio visit with Raphaela Platow, Executive Director of Louisville,

Kentucky’s Speed Art Museum she commented, “I love that Tom is not afraid to embrace and use color; his paintings are so hopeful.”

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The works featured here are part of Owen’s current Gradient series painted using vinyl flashe emulsion on cradled panels. The series is comprised of essentially experiments that investigate ways that color can be perceived and experienced. Computer scientist, chemist, and artist Tyler Thrasher said, “When we see color, we are looking at the distinct wavelengths of visible light.”

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Building on that understanding, Owen notes that the optical characteristics of flashe allow it to absorb light and reflects it back in rich and pure ways as the color we see—distinct wavelengths of visible light. Owen creates these color combinations and transitions leveraging the characteristics of flashe so the colors will intensify (or fade), inviting the viewer into a deeper experience of color and light.