Owen Kydd
(Canadian, b. 1975)
Blue Studies
2013
Single-channel video (Variable media / adaptable display dimensions)
Provenance: Monte Clark Gallery (Vancouver, BC)
Featured in Artforum as a Critic’s Pick, Blue Studies (2013) is a foundational work from Owen Kydd’s celebrated series of "durational photographs." Designed as a scale-agnostic, variable-media piece, the artwork adapts to screens and monitors of various dimensions, mounted flush against the wall like a traditional painting or lightbox. Kydd focuses a stationary camera on minute ambient changes, light reflections, and atmospheric shifts, capturing a seamless loop where time feels both completely frozen and continuously unfolding.
Having served for four years as studio assistant to Vancouver photo-conceptualist Jeff Wall, Kydd emerged as a pivotal voice bridging the legacy of the Vancouver School with post-digital media. Rather than using video for theatrical narrative or cinematic storytelling, Kydd treats the display screen as a physical, pictorial object on the wall. By stripping away narrative drama and isolating subtle micro-movements, Blue Studies disrupts conventional modes of viewing and invites patient, meditative observation.
Kydd’s durational photographs have received significant international critical acclaim. In 2014, his video works were included in the landmark survey What is a Photograph? at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York, and in 2015 he was shortlisted for the AIMIA AGO Photography Prize. Today, his pioneering video works are preserved in major public museum collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Featured Exhibition & Press Highlights:
Featured in Artforum Critics' Picks (July 2013)
Included in What is a Photograph?, International Center of Photography / ICP (New York, NY, 2014)
Finalist, AIMIA AGO Photography Prize (Art Gallery of Ontario, 2015)
Solo Exhibition, Photographies Perpétuelles, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2015)
Solo Exhibitions at Monte Clark Gallery (Vancouver, BC) and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery (New York, NY)
Selected Permanent Collections:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art / The Met (New York, NY)
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art / SFMOMA (San Francisco, CA)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art / LACMA (Los Angeles, CA)
Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, CA)
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (Montreal, QC)
Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver, BC)
Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY)
Owen Kydd
(Canadian, b. 1975)
Blue Studies
2013
Single-channel video (Variable media / adaptable display dimensions)
Provenance: Monte Clark Gallery (Vancouver, BC)
Featured in Artforum as a Critic’s Pick, Blue Studies (2013) is a foundational work from Owen Kydd’s celebrated series of "durational photographs." Designed as a scale-agnostic, variable-media piece, the artwork adapts to screens and monitors of various dimensions, mounted flush against the wall like a traditional painting or lightbox. Kydd focuses a stationary camera on minute ambient changes, light reflections, and atmospheric shifts, capturing a seamless loop where time feels both completely frozen and continuously unfolding.
Having served for four years as studio assistant to Vancouver photo-conceptualist Jeff Wall, Kydd emerged as a pivotal voice bridging the legacy of the Vancouver School with post-digital media. Rather than using video for theatrical narrative or cinematic storytelling, Kydd treats the display screen as a physical, pictorial object on the wall. By stripping away narrative drama and isolating subtle micro-movements, Blue Studies disrupts conventional modes of viewing and invites patient, meditative observation.
Kydd’s durational photographs have received significant international critical acclaim. In 2014, his video works were included in the landmark survey What is a Photograph? at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York, and in 2015 he was shortlisted for the AIMIA AGO Photography Prize. Today, his pioneering video works are preserved in major public museum collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Featured Exhibition & Press Highlights:
Featured in Artforum Critics' Picks (July 2013)
Included in What is a Photograph?, International Center of Photography / ICP (New York, NY, 2014)
Finalist, AIMIA AGO Photography Prize (Art Gallery of Ontario, 2015)
Solo Exhibition, Photographies Perpétuelles, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2015)
Solo Exhibitions at Monte Clark Gallery (Vancouver, BC) and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery (New York, NY)
Selected Permanent Collections:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art / The Met (New York, NY)
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art / SFMOMA (San Francisco, CA)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art / LACMA (Los Angeles, CA)
Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, CA)
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (Montreal, QC)
Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver, BC)
Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY)
