Anne Allen, b. 1960- Pattern, both manufactured and natural, has long influenced the delicate yet powerful work of Anne Allen. The ephemeral beauty of domestic items such as doilies, lace, floral wallpaper and hairnets, is abstracted at a large scale, endowing the objects with a presence beyond their utilitarian purpose. These impressions of seemingly innocent objects are subverted with a minimalist hand, creating intimate drawings with nostalgic effects. Installations and wall drawings activate the space while injecting a sense of the temporal. 

Throughout her career, Allen has constantly evolved her practice with insights from her travels. From childhood road trips through adult hikes to geocaching sites, Allen has found a plethora of images and stimuli that she explores in her work. Allen carefully executes her marks in graphite, watercolor, ink, charcoal, gouache, or pastel to achieve the tactile qualities that draw viewers in to follow her gestures. Allen’s work also draws inspiration generally from the conceptual maps of Julie Mehretu, Brice Marden’s layered loops, and El Anatsui’s quilts of found materials.

Anne Allen grew up in Fort Worth, TX, and has lived and worked in Los Angeles, CA, Portland, OR and New York’s Hudson Valley before returning to Texas in 1999. She received her M.F.A. in metals from the State University of New York at New Paltz and her B.F.A. in painting and printmaking from the University of Texas at Austin. She has shown her work extensively in solo and group exhibitions throughout Texas as well as New York and was a finalist for the Hunting Art Prize in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2016. A curator and arts administrator, Allen served as Director of the Arlington Museum of Art (AMA) from 2001-2007, and as Executive Director of The Old Jail Art Center in Albany, Texas, 2000. She is currently a Public Art Project Manager with the Arts Council of Fort Worth, Texas.