BIOGRAPHY

Justin Allen's paintings acknowledge and unravel otherwise commonplace objects by isolating and rendering them in fine detail. He implements Old Master painting techniques that require multiple layers of drawing and color, resulting in works that can take up to two years to complete. While Allen is not attempting to achieve photorealism, he invests close attention to the lining of the objects and to the shadows and planes so that the ordinary objects are contemplated instead of overlooked. Working in a small scale format, Allen's paintings are dense with conceptua meaning and subtle tension that invites the viewer to closely examine his pieces with a heightened sense of the personal.

Justin Allen received his B.A. from Webster University in St. Louis in 1999, and his M.F.A. from Hunter College in 2007. Robert Miller Gallery has featured Allen in a one-person booth in the NEXT Fair during Art Chicago in 2008, as well as exhibited Allen’s work at the gallery in 2009, 2010, and 2013. A Pollock-Krasner 2012 award winner, Allen has exhibited at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill, NY; J. Johnson Gallery in Jacksonville, FL; the Knoxville Museum of Art in Tennessee; the Eleven Gallery in London; the Sam Lee Gallery in Los Angeles; and at Scheubbe Projects in Dusseldorf Germany.