Bill Owens
- Introduction
- Bill Owens (born September 25, 1938) is an American photographer, photojournalist, brewer and editor living in Hayward, California. He is best known for his photographs of suburban domestic scenes taken in the East Bay and published in the book Suburbia (1973). Owens is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and two National Endowment for the Arts Grants. According to The New York Sun, "Owens is uniquely associated with suburbanites living in the tract housing developments that absorbed 60 million Americans in the decades following World War II."
- Wikidata
- Q4910416
- Nationality
- American
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Photographer
- Names
- Bill Owens, Bill Elmo Owens, Bill. Owens, William Owens, William Elmo Owens
- Ulan
- 500204781
Exhibitions
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Bill Owens Untitled 1970
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Bill Owens I find a sense of freedom in the suburbs…. You assume the mask of suburbia for outward appearances and yet no one knows what you really do. 1971
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Bill Owens Some days when there is no one to play with I build Glenn a tent play house out of two chairs and two blankets. 1971
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Bill Owens We feel most people have the wrong attitude about sex, that it’s nasty and to be only in the dark. With us sex takes care of itself. 1971
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Bill Owens We really enjoy getting together with our friends to drink and dance. It’s a wild party and we’re having a great time. 1971
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Bill Owens Ronald Regan 1972
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Bill Owens We’re really happy. Our kids are healthy, we eat good food, and we have a really nice home. 1972
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Bill Owens A lot of people say we’re chunks of meat, like cattle, but we’re not. We’re all individuals with dreams and aspirations like everybody else. Being a beauty contestant has taught me about myself, other people, poise and public speaking., If I had it to do over again, I would. 1972
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Bill Owens I believe in women’s liberation. I’m tired of the image of the women who has the most sanitary toilet bowl, the cleanest floor, and the brattiest kids as the supermother., I want to be able to change with my children and to change with my life as I grow older. Staying at home and taking care of the kids doesn’t help. 1972
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Bill Owens I get a lot of compliments on the front room wall. I like Italian Syrocco floral designs over the mantle. It goes with the Palos Verde rock fireplace. 1972
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Bill Owens It’s a great pleasure to watch yourself make love in the six dozen mirrors that line the ceilings and walls. I’ve spent a tremendous amount of thought and planning to get the total effect of the bedroom., It’s fascinating to watch our friends’ reactions to seeing the luxury and sensuousness of the room. Our bedroom is the most enjoyable room in the house. 1972
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Bill Owens We really enjoy living in a mobile home. My hobby is collecting coins and my wife plays her Wurlitzer for entertainment. 1972
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Bill Owens Mardi Gras is an annual fund-raising event staged by the Pleasanton Juniors. King and Queen Candidates hold moneymaking events and the candidate who raises the most money wins., Last year we raised $12,800 for the senior citizens’ transportation system and $1,000 for youth counseling programs. The climax is the Mardi Gras Ball. Over 500 people come to drink, eat, dance and celebrate the coronation. 1973
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Bill Owens Untitled 1973
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Bill Owens I really enjoy being here because it’s my pleasure to help people. They’d have to fire me before I’d quit. I know I’m loved and vice versa. 1975
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Bill Owens I’ve been a UPI correspondent, a publicist for an Italian film producer, a writer for the U.S. Army, a public relations man and an operations manager for record stores. Now I’m promotion and marketing director for a newspaper chain., Within a year, I’ll be off to Turkey. It will be a jumping-off place. The world will be my oyster. 1975
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Bill Owens Like everyone else, I’m caught up in the rat race. I work eighty hours a week and with my real estate investments earn $100,000 a year. I just got divorced., In the insurance business the public thinks we promise the moon but we can only deliver half a moon. 1975
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Bill Owens Untitled 1975
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Bill Owens Television cameramen are a special breed. When you read something in a book you say that’s someone’s opinion. When you see it on TV you say that’s gospel. I have one minute, thirty seconds to make a statement., It had to be accurate, it has to be the truth. 1976
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Bill Owens I’ve been a chiropractor for thirty-three years, working directly and indirectly with nerves through the spinal column. I’m thinking of retiring in a couple of years and going into worm farming. Worms are an asset to society. 1975-77
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