In 1984, the art critic and theorist Craig Owens (1950–90) gave a wide-ranging interview to Lyn Blumenthal and Kate Horsfield for their video series On Art and Artists. At once personal, political, and forward-thinking, Owens recounts his experiences with Rosalind Krauss, the founding of the journal October, and the Pictures Generation of artists and critics, and offers insights into his own struggles grappling with the aesthetic and political contradictions haunting contemporary art—as relevant now as they were then. Craig Owens: Portrait of a Young Critic (Badlands Unlimited, 2018), by Lyn Blumenthal and Kate Horsfield, with an introduction by novelist Lynne Tillman, presents a newly edited and updated version of this interview, telling the intimate story of one of the most compelling minds in art theory and criticism.

The New Museum and Badlands Unlimited co-presented the launch of the book with a panel discussion moderated by Paul Chan and Johanna Burton, with panelists Thomas Beard, Kate Horsfield, and Lynne Tillman.