ALMA ALLEN

Early Years and Background

Born in 1970 in Utah, Allen left home at 16 and is self-taught. He initially sold small sculptures made from found materials on the streets of New York. An accident that limited his physical capacity led him to innovate new ways of working, incorporating robotic arms to scale his hand-crafted models into larger works. He lived and worked in Joshua Tree, California, before relocating to Tepotzlán, Mexico, where he built a studio including a foundry to complete his sculptures on site.

Alma Allen Artworks

Allen’s work is defined by a dynamic tension between organic softness and lasting material solidity, with abstract talismanic shapes that evoke movement and transformation through their surfaces and silhouettes. He selects natural materials from local quarries near his studio, favoring spontaneous approaches to form that result in giant, lopsided tuber-like sculptures shaped by maquettes rather than preparatory drawings. Allen rarely gives his works titles, instead exploring a wide range of scales and finishes—from gleaming, reflective patinas to gritty, tactile textures—as seen in pieces such as Not Yet Titled (2014), Untitled (2013), and Not Yet Titled (2019.

To create larger forms, Allen leverages the sensitivity required for clay modeling—transferring pressure from his fingertips—and extends his reach in the studio through a self-designed robotic arm, compensating for physical limitations. The origins of his practice include smaller prototypes made during periods of homelessness, with his highly polished bronzes revealing both vulnerability and resilience, and carrying allusions to ancient shells, writhing pods, ossified viscera, and mental anguish.

Although primarily abstract, Allen’s sculptures are deeply allusive—appearing weightless yet charged with corporeal tension, setting his work apart from artists such as Constantin Brancusi or Isamu Noguchi, whose geometry is less bodily and more pristine. He also creates functional domestic objects alongside contemplative sculpture, each rendered with meticulous attention to surface detail.

Allen’s process remains instinctive, beginning with clay or wax maquettes before scanning and translating these models into monumental sculptures with a self-built robotic arm. This blend of handcraft and technology is central to his practice, drawing comparisons to Surrealist automatism and referencing canonical sculptors like Brancusi.

Seminal Works and Developments

• Early New York sculptures crafted from urban stone and marble debris
• Participation in the 2014 Whitney Biennial, marking his emergence on the global contemporary art scene
• Solo exhibition Nunca Solo (2023) at Museo Anahuacalli, Mexico City, intertwining ancient and contemporary sculptural traditions
• 2025 Park Avenue installation in New York featuring ten monumental sculptures across 20 blocks
• Multiple solo shows at Kasmin Gallery, New York, showcasing his evolving scale and range.
• 2025 announcement of his appointment to present the United States of America at the Venice Biennale.

Select Public Commissions

• Outdoor sculpture at Rockefeller Center Plaza, New York (2022)
• Installation at Van Buuren Museum & Gardens, Brussels (2022).

Alma Allen Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

• Alma Allen on Park Avenue, New York (2025)
• Nunca Solo, Museo Anahuacalli, Mexico City (2023)
• Kasmin Gallery, New York (2024, 2021)
• Van Buuren Museum & Gardens, Brussels (2022)
• Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2019)
• Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago (2016)

Group Exhibitions

• Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2014)
• Days of Inertia, Mendes Wood DM, Netherlands (2021)
• Handheld, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield (2018)
• Between the Earth and Sky, Kasmin Gallery, New York (2021)
• 5,471 miles, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2020).

Alma Allen FAQs

Ocula | 2025