screenshot (c) LVL3 official

LVL3 interview excerpt with Liam Owings:

”…” What are some recent, upcoming or current projects you are working on?

I recently held a solo exhibition at studio PRÁM in Prague, showcasing a large body of work I created over the past few months. This project pushed me to explore metal casting more deeply, leading to the development of a new technique that allows me to manipulate the surface’s color and shimmer. A particularly exciting aspect of my recent research involved collaborating with Professor Rita Lucarelli, an Egyptologist from Berkeley, who translated a 1980s American poem into Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. This unique intersection of contemporary and ancient languages is something I’m keen to explore further in the coming months.This intersection brought a unique temporal dialogue into my work, juxtaposing modern poetic language with ancient script. Currently, I am working on a new piece in collaboration with Francisco Valençia Vaz, a Brazilian artist based in Vienna. This project is both challenging and inspiring, as while we share thematic interests such as totems and fetishes, our aesthetic approaches differ significantly in color palettes and materials. Despite these differences, we maintain a shared decision-making process to ensure that neither of our artistic voices is lost. Within this framework, we explore the boundaries of artistic compromise and fusion. We are excited to present this collaborative work at the newly opened Barvinskyi Gallery in Vienna, as part of a group show curated by the artist collective QMA (Question Me and Answer).

How do you see your work evolving in parallel to things that are going on around you right now?

Several pieces I recently exhibited in Prague and Bratislava were inspired by AI- generated images of so-called “biblically accurate angels”” from the Christian internet. Over the past year, these images have made their way from the Evangelical fringes in the US to the mainstream, mostly through TikTok. As someone who often watches content about religion for research, the algorithm decided that I, an artist from Europe, should see these too. So, I hand-copied one of them into physical form, using a traditional bronze glaze and historical metal- casting techniques. This melding of ancient craft and digital novelty has been an exciting thematic layer in my recent work. The result looks like something from pre-Christian mythology around 4000 BCE, but it’s actually a precise reproduction of AI animations from 2023 and 2024. Now, with radical Christians having re-elected their candidate, those biblically accurate angels—staring back at me with their multitude of eyes—creep me out more than ever. This societal shift has heightened the unsettling presence of these works in my portfolio.”

LVL3 is a volunteer artist-run exhibition space and digital publication out of Chicago, IL. Our team is devoted to supporting creative talent from around the world while amplifying and prioritizing the voices of underrepresented communities. Through our artist-focused approach to interviews, exhibitions, and public programming, LVL3 means to connect Chicago with the broader art world & to cultivate symbiotic relationships with emerging and mid-career artists. 

https://lvl3official.com/info/