Vivid freehand oil paintings drop the viewer into a key moment of drama, an atmosphere rife with tension and anticipation. Expressive faces captured from mass media are reminiscent of the twitching dazzle of paused TV screens, a fleeting yet relatable expression, that viewers will find fascinating and intriguing.

These artificial dramas entangle our emotions. Absorbing films allows a safe way to process the emotions of difficult situations – some of which may have been experienced: grief, illness, bereavement, joy, intimacy. Painting becomes a useful way of reclaiming the headspace that these fictional people occupy: returning them, transformed, into the outside world.

Multiple layers blend together on the canvas. Visual clues abound of their televisual origins: reflections, glitches and blurs; sometimes matte black edges and corners which suggest the television as an object in itself.

Born in Lancashire, Viv Owen gained her BA at Bradford College, and MA at Leeds Metropolitan University (Leeds Beckett University). Working and exhibiting with artists’ studio groups since graduating in 2000, she moved to her own studio space in 2011 at Westgate Studios, Wakefield. Viv Owen regularly exhibits in Yorkshire with Artwalk Wakefield, Cupola Gallery, Sheffield and in London with FLUX and ArtCan.

Notable recent exhibitions include ‘A Splash of Colour’ with fellow painter Helen Field at Bowery Visual Arts, ‘Living With The Past’ at Cupola Contemporary Art, Sheffield, and FLUX at The Design District, The Design District, Greenwich Peninsula, London, and ArtCan Legacy at The Crypt Gallery, St Pancras, London

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