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Owen Westberg (b. 1986, Pittsburgh) received an MFA from Columbia University and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. His work has been included in recent exhibitions at Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles; and Dunes, Portland, ME.
Lake is his first solo exhibition. Westberg lives and works in Pittsburgh.
“For over a decade, Owen has been painting discreet scenes in oil on smoothed birch panels or aluminum flashings that fit smartly into a purse or piece of hand luggage: late afternoon landscapes, round, glowy fruits, a fictional painter or pair of sneakers, tinted windows on a corporate building, and often, patterned fabrics. He paints these low-stakes subjects with wet, slightly oversized brushes that approximate rather than articulate. His marks are straightforward yet sensitive. Never sentimental. Tender but not sweet, and a bit unhinged—as if in a rush to get it all down. His color—always exact—pulls clarity from a hand that favors a wobbly line over a straight one. Simple shifts from cool grey to warm champagne cast a rippled cloth into full relief. The palette is limited but nuanced— soft ochre, medieval blues, kiwi, terracotta and buttercream, and the regular colors: yellow, orange, navy” – Anna Glantz
[…] Owen Westberg sat down to talk about his first solo show, Lake, which ran until August 11 at Laurel Gitlen. Some of the paintings in the show are made on aluminum flashing while others in larger sizes are on birch panel and aluminum dibond. The writer Robert Walser has been a strong presence for Westberg, and his influence is woven throughout the work from this show. To learn more, listen to the complete interview. […]