Bill Owens: Working/Leisure
The 72 photographs in Bill Owens: Working/Leisure are narrated in the subjects’ own words and capture Americans hard at work and equally hard at play. As writer Lewis Lapham has observed, “To look at Bill Owens’ photographs is to know wherein lies the health and safety of the American democracy. Not in the Pentagon’s nuclear arsenal, or in the Department of Homeland Security’s surveillance cameras watching over New York banks and the Washington politicians, but in the mongrel energies of an uncowed people proud of what they do and make. Homo Faber (‘Working Man’), determined to build the raft of an identity and purpose on which to float the speculation of his or her life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”
Bill Owens was born and raised on a farm in Northern California (“my father did construction, my mother did chickens”). In 1968 he became a staff photographer for the Livermore Independent. From the unlikely perch of a small-town newspaper in California’s Central Valley, Owens developed a goal and a vision that would resonate from coast to coast for many decades to come: his memorable snapshots of suburban California life in the 1970s stand as individual pieces in the grand puzzle that is the American Dream.
I’m a mother and a waitress. I enjoy what I'm doing but wouldn't want to do it for a lifetime. I'm divorced and find it difficult to meet men who want to have a relationship. Someday I'd like to go back to school. 1976
Lawn bowling is for old men with too much time on their hands. Livermore, California, 1976
The three of us, we have made over one thousand jumps with no malfunctions. We love the sport of sky diving. Livermore, California, 1974
We like being on strike. The union pays us to be here. 1974-6
I got tired of selling waterbeds so I opened a beanbag store. Waterbeds were just a fad. 1974-6
The oil flows 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez across mountain ranges and hundreds of streams, and the pipeline is engineered to survive earthquakes on the faults it crosses. It is my job to watch over it. Traveling along it is awesome and lonely. 1974-6
I’m a philanthropist. Each year, depending on the stock market, I give away up to $500,000. On my income tax forms I call myself a political maverick. I give money to political candidates, institutions and liberal politicians who support arms control and population control. 1976
We make handmade leather goods, mostly simple items that are offered in small stores and at flea markets. I use my charms to make sales. 1974
My father came from Japan in the 1920’s because America was the land of opportunity. During World War II we were interned in Utah and had to sacrifice the farm. It has taken thirty years to build up this vegetable farm to seventy acres with eleven men helping me. My son doesn't want to farm--it's hard work with little money. He works in the Blue Chip redemption center. 1975
On weekends we camp and ride dirt bikes. Livermore, California, 1977
I’m one of the first freak fishermen on the West Coast. It's a lifestyle rather than a living. I want to conserve natural energy by doing more with less, so I sell the crabs I catch directly to the people. Money is a paper signature for energy. 1976
Arthur Bryant's Bar-B-Que is the most famous ribs restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri. 1976
I spent $100 on the plane kit and 50 hours assembling it. My goal is not to crash it in the first ten minutes. Mission Peak, Fremont, California, 1976
I was disappointed. This movie didn’t show any sex. Vine Theater, Livermore, California, 1972
Strip mall, Pleasanton, California, 1974
Tai Chi Chuen is an old form of Chinese exercise. It involves meditation and loosening of the body muscles for blood circulation and concentration. Tai Chi is good for relaxation in our society of hustle-bustle.
The middle class has no taste for art! I am not a great artist, but people think I am because I have long hair. Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1976
My goal at the end of the race is to beat at least one ten-year-old kid or one little old lady. 10K race, Livermore, California, 1974
Salt River, Tonto National Forest, Arizona, Memorial Day, 1976
As Snowbirds we winter in Arizona and summer in Montana. KOA makes it possible to travel cheaply. KAO Campground Bernalillo, New Mexico, 1976
A plant serviceman cleans, trims, prunes, waters and exchanges rented plants. I'm dusting a fiddle-leaf fig plant at the Trans-America building observation floor. I'm totally content with what I'm doing now. 1976
It's hot under this costume. I am sweating the whole time I am out here. Every two hours I get a break and drink four Cokes and eat all the free fast food I want. The kids love the balloon animals I give away and sometimes I get extra work making them at kids' birthday parties. 1974-6
I used to be a chef and my partner was a garbage foreman. He was making $107 a week and going crazy. Now we sell apples and oranges from the back of a pickup truck. You meet people of every race--rich and poor, doctors and dentists. Everyone loves good fruit. We're making a living and enjoying ourselves. 1974-6
Number of photographs: 72
Frame sizes: 14 x16 inches
Rental fee: $4900 for eight weeks plus shipping and insurance. Additional weeks are 10 percent per week.
This show can be combined with Bill Owens: Suburbia. Please inquire.