Tag: Jonathan Owen

Jonathan Owen's interdisciplinary work toys with the definition of authorship in the spirit of Marcel Duchamp. His sculptures and works on paper start out as other, found artworks, which he alters through a process of subtraction. To create his surreal 3D pieces, he carves directly into 19th-century marble statues and busts. These sculptures were created as imitations of Classical works from the Renaissance, which themselves were inspired by Ancient Greek art and mythology. Owen adds yet another layer of appropriation, carving into the pristine bodies of David and Mercury to dissolve them into abstract, geometric shapes. He mixes Baroque and Minimalist aesthetics in a way that would make purists cringe.