Simon Owens Creative Direction
Simon
Owens
Small town England, strange beeps and bleeps in a London record shop, art school, Tomato. A modular studio on wheels. A vision nobody else can see yet.
Art school, Tomato, Millers Terrace gallery, Caribou, LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip. Simon Owens on convincing others to see the vision, his modular studio on wheels, and why he knew what was going to happen in his 20s but not his 30s.
"I've created situations and creative enterprises, and now I'm gathering that all together."
Simon Owens attended art school in London and went on to join the legendary design collective Tomato. He later set up The Imaginary Tennis Club with a short-lived but highly successful gallery called Millers Terrace. He was listed by i-D Magazine among the 200 most important creatives of the future. His music video work includes Caribou's "Sun," Hot Chip's "Spell," Alexis Taylor's "House of the Truth," and the now-iconic LCD Soundsystem video in which Kermit the Frog sings "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" in Times Square. He is represented on Vimeo at vimeo.com/simonowens.
Brief bio, career highlights.
Art school in London, and then joined a group called Tomato. After that I set up The Imaginary Tennis Club with a short-lived but highly successful gallery called Millers Terrace. I've created situations and creative enterprises, and now I'm gathering that all together.
Greatest inspirations or influences?
Small town England. Bunking off school and running off to London in my early teens. Hearing strange beeps and bleeps music for the first time in Flip on Long Acre in London.
Challenges of what you do?
Convincing others to see the 'vision.'
"Making a film of OK magazine. And building my own house with a large glass roof, whilst shooting Gerard Depardieu lip-syncing Sebastian Tellier inside."
Simon Owens dream projects
Project you're most proud of?
My moving box studio. It's modular, and all on wheels.
Up and coming artists we should know about?
Dave.i.d. He's just going to murk it.
Favourite sites and blogs?
It would have to be the BBC's football gossip page I'm sadly obsessed. That and 'Kick to Kill' blog spot, plus a Scandinavian furniture site which will remain secret, that I pore over late at night.
Anything else you'd like to share?
I knew what was going to happen in my 20s. I don't know what is going to happen in my 30s.
Simon Owens was listed by i-D Magazine among the 200 most important creatives of the future. The box studio. The Kermit video. The Caribou film. The vision nobody else can see yet. He was right about his 20s. He had no idea about his 30s. That turned out to be the point.
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