Known for his vibrant abstract paintings, Richard Allen paints bold linear forms that are inspired by the landscapes of his home in Australia. His paintings adopt a distinct colour palette that captures the movement and energy of his subjects. Allen's artistic practice advocates for experimentation and development, while recognising the importance of traditional concepts and techniques.
Read MoreRichard Allen was born in Sydney, Australia. When he was young, he was offered the opportunity to experience low altitude flying. The flights over long tracts of wheat fields and vineyards gave Allen inspiration for his abstract artworks.
Richard Allen's landscape paintings typically depict abstract aerial views of agricultural grasslands. His compositions attempt to portray the kind of patterning mankind forms as a way to control and maintain natural environments. Allen illustrates man's commanding position by painting stripes and ribbons in a fiery palette with deeply textured brushstrokes.
Allen's abstract landscapes often feature organic shapes and arabesque decoration. These ornamental curves and lines evoke characteristics of calligraphy and musical notes.
Richard Allen's figurative work differs slightly in style and content to his abstract landscapes. Focusing instead on the subjects that inhabit his home country, Allen uses a more restrained colour arrangement to mirror the shades of soil, sand, and stone.
Works like Reflective Elephant and Little Grey Guy are reminiscent of ancient cave paintings or frescoes. In these works, Allen portrays his subject using a translucent painterly tone. The animals appear in a transitory state, suggestive of the omnipresent threat of planetary extinction.
Allen's abstract landscapes and figurative paintings aim to reveal 'the beauty in the marks man makes on the landscape and its inhabitants, marks often missed or just misjudged, and their reflection of and on life, pulsing and coursing through the veins of our relationship with nature'.
Richard Allen's work is included in private collections in Australia, America, China, France, Italy, Japan, and Singapore. Several of his artworks are included in the public collections of Pernod Ricard in Paris, Qantas in Sydney, Park Lane Hotel in Hong Kong and The New Westmead Childrens Hospital in Sydney.
Richard Allen has exhibited in both group shows and solo shows. Selected solo exhibitions include Year of Wonders, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney (2021); Ningaloo to Nile, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney (2019); The Essence of Water, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney (2018); Reflections After The Raj, Kings Road Gallery, London (2015); Pernod Ricard, Head Office, Paris (2007); Nicola Townsend Art, Tokyo (2003); Motcomb Gallery, London (1999); LKF The Gallery, Hong Kong (1996).
Selected group shows include Yan Gallery & Tanya Baxter Contempory, Hong Kong (2016); Lapada Art Fair, London (2015); Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney (2014); Art London (2013); Art Monaco (2012); Wattle Exhibition, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong (2011); Black Is The Colour, Shoalhaven City Arts Centre, Nowra, Australia (2010); The Bell Gallery, Berrima, Australia (2007); Art London, Kings Road Gallery, London (2005); Breaking The Boarders, Artfolio Gallery, Singapore (2000); Landscape & Images, LKF The Gallery, Hong Kong (1995).
Richard Allen's website can be found here, and his Instagram here.
Phoebe Bradford | Ocula | 2021
