Allen's profile
I was raised multiculturally on the post WW2 western Pacific island of Guam from 1952 to 1963. It was a paradise of extremes, from the glorious treasures of the ocean, to giant coconut crabs and the lavish fiestas where all races were welcome. In contrast, hidden bombs and hand grenades were still being tripped over and killing people years after the war. However, it was the typhoons that devastated Guam five times that caused us to return to America. Following three transformative years in Long Beach California, my family then moved to the former Panama Canal Zone where I began painting and exhibiting before graduating from high school with honors. Every summer we loved exploring Guatemala and its colorful culture! For the first time, I was allowed to fly by myself to the Mayan ruins of Tikel in the Yucatan, which sparked an avid interest in archeology. However, my greatest thrills were in slashing through beautiful unexplored jungles with my machete, finding pristine rivers and untouched beaches. Consequently, my creative roots are a unique mix of jungle aesthetics, Latino, Chinese and Pre Colombian art.
In 1976, I joined the Navy and worked in military intelligence in the Philippines. From there I was appointed to Public Affairs for the Navy's flight demonstration squadron, the Blue Angels for four astonishing years. I appeared on national television twice. Then, for six months I was selected for a flight on one of the Space Shuttles before being disqualified by an ear issue. It was the Challenger.
Shortly after it's horrific explosion, I left the Navy to pursue a BFA in 1988 at Otis Parsons in LA. In my junior year I was awarded a traveling scholarship to Paris, France. At first I was in heaven, then my finances disappeared and I went to work on the black market, where, by accident, I ingested rat poison. I was a serious mess for months, yet out of that, my work exploded into multiple disciplines and new concepts. I was then awarded a traveling scholarship to Istanbul, which also expanded my research and aesthetics.
In 1990, I received an MFA at the Maryland College of Art. During the first semester I was hired as assistant to Salvatore Scarpitta, the Arte Povera sculptor with the Leo Castelli Gallery. Our relationship lasted ten years in which Sal took me to Italy five times, the last to install Sal's seventh solo at the Venice Bienalle.
This opened the door to my work being exhibited in Italy as well as being curated into the Pavilion of Contemporary Art in Milan, before the museum was leveled by a terrorist bomb. I also exhibited in the Gomez Gallery in Baltimore and the Ace Gallery, New York, as well as multiple locations in France and Korea, with group shows in Morocco, Egypt and India.
I taught sculpture and drawing at the Maryland Institute College of Art for twenty years before retiring from teaching. During that time I also taught at Towson University and Anne Arundel Community College and lectured in other Maryland colleges. I then graduated as a Christian minister and served in Baltimore's downtown jail for six life changing years as a counselor.
Twice I've been awarded the Pollock-Krasner Fellowship, along with four MD State grants, among other awards. In 2003-04, I was selected by the State Department as a Senior Fulbright Scholar to Sung Kyun Kwan University in Seoul, Korea for a year and initiated MICA's exchange program with Korea. During that time I traveled to Japan to research Korea's historic impact on the early development of Japanese aesthetics. I was also invited to lecture at China's Central Academy in Beijing, as well as multiple locations in Korea.
Residencies include Succat Hallel in Jerusalem in 2019, TAC at the Tannery in Santa Cruz, CA- 2017, Ireland in 2015 and in 2014 at the Tyrone Guthrie Center. Others include Chateau Rochefort-en-Terre in Brittany, France, the Marie Walsh Sharpe Space Program in NYC, Sculpture Space and the Vermont Studio Program. Recently, I finished an autobiography, An Abundance of Stars.
Currently I'm working through a new series of abstract/figurative paintings that are surprising in that they are uniting many of my diverse ways of seeing. As I do not plan a work in advance, I experiment intuitively through multiple layers and diverse materials such as fragmented linticular images. These are mixed amid color tests and design adjustments, with certain open ended quantum concepts floating around in my child's playful sandbox. It is more about joy hints and love whispers amid the dance of mysteries than in 'arriving' at 'manly' resolutions or statements. I love to laugh!
