About the work

The word 'loot' came into English in the 19th century via colonial India, appropriated from 'lut' in Hindi, developed from earlier Sanskrit 'lunth', meaning 'to rob'.

Today content is absorbed at such speed. There’s no time to consider the contexts things are sampled from. Scrolling online. Listening to a Western beat pasted with an Eastern riff. Creating an artwork.

Looting – symbolic snippets are extrapolated and reformulated. Renaissance or antiquarian styling (a creased robe / a crudely formed pin) is re-drawn, meshed with suggestions of contemporary forms (planished corrugate).

What they do and how they do it gets reconsidered. They start to mean different things. They start to acquire new values.

Date and country of birth

1984, GB>

About the artist

Laurence Owen (b. 1984, Gloucester) lives and works in London. Graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art, Royal Academy Schools, London (2015) and a BA in Fine Art Painting, Falmouth College of Art (2005). Awards include the John Moores Painting Prize (2016); the Painter-Stainers Gordon Luton Award (2015); and the E. Vincent Harris Painting Prize (2014). Select solo exhibitions include LOOT, Galerie PCP, Paris (2018-19); VOLTA Art Fair, Frestonian Gallery, Pier 90, New York (2018); Channel Synthesis, Evelyn Yard Gallery, London (2016); Version, Marcelle Joseph Projects, Ascot (2014-15); The Elemental Dynamic, Art Exchange, Colchester (2012); Wish You Were Here, 20 Hoxton Square Projects, London (2011); and The Gold Book, 20 Hoxton Square Projects, London (2009). Select group exhibitions include Something Else, Triumph Gallery, Moscow (2018); Deconstruction, Lamb Arts, London (2018); FORM, Cob Gallery, London (2018); Lost and Found, Rod Barton, London (2017); Art Icon 2017: Peter Doig, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2017); Absent Bodies, OSL Contemporary, Oslo (2017); Drawing Biennial 2017, Drawing Room, London (2017); and John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2016).