Tom Allen (painter)
American painter (born 1975)
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Tom Allen (born 1975, Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American painter based in Los Angeles. His work combines elements of symbolism, mysticism, and popular culture, drawing on sources ranging from fin-de-siècle art and literature to countercultural iconography and contemporary music. Allen is best known for his vividly colored, small-scale figurative paintings of flora, which merge art historical reference with psychological and psychedelic intensity.
Tom Allen | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1975 (age 50–51) |
| Education | University of Southern California (BFA); Art Center College of Design (MFA) |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Contemporary art |
Early life and education
Allen was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1975. He studied at the University of Southern California, where he earned his BFA in 1998, and later received an MFA from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, in 2001.[1][non-primary source needed]
Work
Allen's paintings often depict stylized flowers and plants that are saturated with symbolic and atmospheric detail. Critics have noted their affinities with French fin-de-siècle painting and literature, particularly artists such as Édouard Vuillard and Gustave Moreau, as well as Art Nouveau design. His imagery also engages with astrology, mysticism, and post-1960s countercultural aesthetics.[2]
Writing in Artillery, critic Ezrha Jean Black described Allen's floral imagery as “taking still life out of allegory” through a palette that hovers “between the psychological and the psychedelic.”[2] His work has been compared to both Flemish still life traditions and the visionary qualities of countercultural art.[1][non-primary source needed]
Exhibitions
Selected solo exhibitions
- 2025: Personae, Air de Paris, Paris, FR[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2023: The Hour, The Approach, London, UK[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2021: The Song, Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; The Promise, The Approach, London, UK[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2020: Præternatura, Air de Paris, Paris, FR[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2019: Là-bas, Lulu, Mexico City, MX[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2017: The Lovers, Bel Ami, Los Angeles, CA[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2010: Summerlands, Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2008: The Red in the Sky is Ours, Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA; Galerie Michael Janssen, Berlin, DE[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2006: Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2005: Galerie Michael Janssen, Cologne, DE[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2002: Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA[1][non-primary source needed]
Selected group exhibitions
- 2025: JUST MORE, Air de Paris, Monte Carlo, MC; MORE JUST, Air de Paris, Paris, FR; Random Access Memory, Air de Paris, Paris, FR; Art Gstaad, Air de Paris, Paris, CH[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2024: Trespass sweetly urged, Tanya Leighton, Berlin, DE[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2023: Immersed, Jack Siebert Projects, Los Angeles, CA; Imperfect Paradise, Barbati Gallery, Venice, IT[1]
- 2022: A Minor Constellation, Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, CA[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2021: Particularities, X Museum, Beijing, CN[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2017: Symbolisms, Cooper Cole, Toronto, CA; Therianthropy, Laura Bartlett Gallery, London, UK; Ruins in the Snow, High Art, Paris, FR[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2016: A Change of Heart, Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2012: Landscape & Architecture, Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2004: Now Is a Good Time, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, NY[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2002: crisp, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY[1][non-primary source needed]
- 2001: Morbid Curiosity, Acme, Los Angeles, CA[1][non-primary source needed]
Collections
Allen's work is included in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Sweeney Gallery, University of California, Riverside.[1][non-primary source needed]
Selected press
- Christina Catherine Martinez, “Stars Aligning: When Art Meets Astrology,” Art Basel, August 7, 2023[3]
- Ezrha Jean Black, “Ten More to Remember – or Simply Bring to Los Angeles,” Artillery, February 10, 2022[2]
- “Tom Allen’s Otherworldly Flowers Bloom at Lulu in Mexico City,” ARTnews, November 18, 2019[4]
- Christina Catherine Martinez, “Tom Allen,” Artforum, October 1, 2019[5]
- “Tom Allen ‘LÀ-Bas’ at Lulu, Mexico City,” Mousse Magazine, July 25, 2019[6]
- Leah Ollman, “Art Review: Tom Allen at Richard Telles,” Los Angeles Times, November 11, 2010[7]
- Christopher Knight, “45 Painters Under 45,” Los Angeles Times, December 2, 2007[8]
- Ken Johnson, “Art in Review,” The New York Times, April 19, 2002[9]