Clifford Owens, a Skowhegan alum from the class of 2004, is well known for his provocative performances, in which the audience is frequently required to engage with the artist, and shifts of power and perspective are at play. The body is often employed as a conduit for conversation, exposing the underlying dynamics between individuals, the artist and viewer, and/or the photographer and the subject of an image. Owens also uses performance as a means to create formal photographic installations that question the intersection of performance, documentation, and photography.

Owens’s upcoming solo exhibitions are scheduled to appear at the Hanes Art Center, University of North Carolina (fall 2009), On Stellar Rays (spring 2010); upcoming group exhibitions are programmed for the Center for Book Arts (spring 2009) and the Kitchen (fall 2009). Owens studied at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Mason Gross School of Visual Art at Rutgers University, and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. He was an artist in residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2005–06 and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2004.