Bill Owens. Suburbia

Lucca Digital Photo Fest

For the first time, in occasion of Lucca Digital Photo Fest, on show a selection of the vintage colour prints from the serie Suburbia (1972), that chronicle the growth of Californian suburbia in the 70s.

Bill Owens, one of the most established artists of his generation, is highly influential for an entire generation of American photographers in the lineage of social documentary.

Gaining much acclaim for his now iconic series of black & white photographs entitled Suburbia, Owens documented the birth of newly-built suburban neighbourhoods in California during the early 70s.

A newcomer himself to one of these districts at the time, Owens’s Suburbia is a landmark chronicle of residential explosion. The burgeoning suburban culture that was quietly, but rapidly, expanding at the time is candidly and charmingly portrayed in Owens’s photo essay. With images of families, furniture, lawns, tupperware parties and formica, these photographs offer an insight into aspirations for the domestic American dream at the time.

Owens provides a unique sociological perspective on how these suburban regions have developed and matured.

The exhibition is curated by Claudia Zanfi, director of 'Bill Owens Archive', Milano, Italy.

About the artist:

Bill Owens was born in San Jose, California, and lives and works in Hayward, California. He received a B.A. in Industrial Arts from the California State University in Chico, California, in 1963 and entered the San Francisco State College in 1966 to study photography. His images have been widely reproduced in book form and in such publications as Rolling Stone, Bomb, Esquire and Newsweek. His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Los Angeles County Art Museum; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; among others. A retrospective of Owens' work was organized by the San Jose Museum of Art in 2000 and at Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milano.  

Contact details:

Lucca Digital Photo Fest

20th November – 12th December 2010

From 10am to 7.30pm

Villa Bottini, Via Elisa

55100 Lucca (Italy)

For further information  please contact:

LDPF: Staff: +39.0583316337 - info@ldpf.it

aMAZElab Art&Culture: Valentina Briguglio, project co-ordinator tel: +39.026071623 -press@amaze.it

ph: Bill Owens, Every Sunday Abe and I read the New York Times and have roast beef for dinner, from Suburbia vintage serie, 1972 (courtesy: Bill Owens, Usa; aMAZElab / Claudia Zanfi, Milano)