Statement.

My work explores the interwoven themes of time, history, and human perception, situating human experience within the broader context of deep time and the countless lives that have shaped the land before us.

I investigate how we perceive, alter, and remember the surrounding landscapes through painting, sculpture, and installations that create immersive environments, inviting contemplation of our place within this layered narrative. They prompt reflection on the choices we make that shape not only our immediate surroundings but also the long-term future of the planet and the echoes of past lives that linger within it.

My current solo project, The Hum, asks: if one sound defines America, is it the droning of a lawnmower? This quintessential noise evokes images of orderly suburbia, manicured lawns, cleared pastures, and fenced property lines.

Growing up on the rural border of Northeast Florida’s suburban enclaves, I became sensitive to the sound and pace of change. The Hum explores the disorienting transformation of my childhood landscape and my community’s way of life. An installation created from chain-link fencing, charred tree bark, and scrap framing, this work represents the ruined turn-of-the-century homesteads, wildfires, and urban development that have forever marked my ancestral home. The exhibit’s inescapable, eponymous resonant hum is the drone of a lawnmower, but also the destruction and absence of natural sound. Its constant intrusion reproduces the inhumane cycle of maintenance and control that characterizes modernity. The “homestead” at the center of the work reimagines pastoral fantasies by embodying the tensions between natural beauty and social decay, between organic and synthetic forces, and between memory and change.

On the walls surrounding the homestead installation are small papier-mâché panels featuring evocative landscape paintings that pair lush skies with redacted landscapes that dissolve into a black ground.

Bio.

Allen (b. 1993, Florida; lives and works in New York) creates paintings, sculptures, and installations exploring the complex relationship between human development and the environment. Growing up on the banks of the St. Johns River in Green Cove Springs, Florida, he witnessed firsthand the rapid transformation of the landscape. This experience profoundly shaped his artistic practice. His work examines the impact of these changes within the historical context of Florida's ecosystems and their connection to broader societal shifts.

Allen holds an MFA from Pratt Institute (2019) and a BFA in Fine Art and Art History from the University of North Florida (2017). He honed his printmaking skills under the guidance of master printer John Hutcheson of Tyler Graphics and studied abroad in Italy, Croatia, and Slovenia.