Micky Allan
Micky Allan's work seeks to explore the vast rhythms of nature that link diversity and make transformation and change the norm. It aims to create reflective spaces that feel physical, puts gentleness on a par with the bold, and opens to the possibility of an eternity that is dynamic and not fixed.
Within this sense of the large and unnamable, it traces particulars of daily living and the natural world. A recent focus on the sea has moved between abstraction (the liquid flux of water and light in the sea) and figuration (divers, fish, seahorses) as if these two are not opposites but part of the same fluid continuum.
Media is wide-ranging: while painting is central, works on paper have always been key, and she has developed methods of placing engraving on glass over multi-media drawings in which the ‘drawing’ on glass interacts in layered ways with the mark making on the paper beneath.
In recent years she has begun collaborative work with Steenus von Steensen which has involved digitally combining photographic imagery taken by both with imagery of her painted or drawn other artwork. Botany Bay 2010 was one such piece, and in an interesting comparison has been shown together with Botany Bay Today made thirty years earlier. The new photographic work includes some hand painting and some engraved glass overlay.
In terms of news, the projection Micky and the whale, made with Steenus von Steensen from a large group of small watercolours based on the traditional narrative of Jonah and the whale, was selected as a finalist in the 2013 Blake Prize, and is now touring. Three of her recent engraved glass works are on show in the contemporary Australian art section at the Australian National Gallery in Canberra. So too is a display of sections of her 1980 photographic newspaper My Trip, reflecting a more widespread interest in her work of this time that is currently coming into play.
Micky has recently moved from Canberra, (where, among other things, she completed a PhD in Painting at the ANU), to live again in Central Victoria near Daylesford.
[view Micky Allan's CV]
[view Micky Allan's website]
Within this sense of the large and unnamable, it traces particulars of daily living and the natural world. A recent focus on the sea has moved between abstraction (the liquid flux of water and light in the sea) and figuration (divers, fish, seahorses) as if these two are not opposites but part of the same fluid continuum.
Media is wide-ranging: while painting is central, works on paper have always been key, and she has developed methods of placing engraving on glass over multi-media drawings in which the ‘drawing’ on glass interacts in layered ways with the mark making on the paper beneath.
In recent years she has begun collaborative work with Steenus von Steensen which has involved digitally combining photographic imagery taken by both with imagery of her painted or drawn other artwork. Botany Bay 2010 was one such piece, and in an interesting comparison has been shown together with Botany Bay Today made thirty years earlier. The new photographic work includes some hand painting and some engraved glass overlay.
In terms of news, the projection Micky and the whale, made with Steenus von Steensen from a large group of small watercolours based on the traditional narrative of Jonah and the whale, was selected as a finalist in the 2013 Blake Prize, and is now touring. Three of her recent engraved glass works are on show in the contemporary Australian art section at the Australian National Gallery in Canberra. So too is a display of sections of her 1980 photographic newspaper My Trip, reflecting a more widespread interest in her work of this time that is currently coming into play.
Micky has recently moved from Canberra, (where, among other things, she completed a PhD in Painting at the ANU), to live again in Central Victoria near Daylesford.
[view Micky Allan's CV]
[view Micky Allan's website]
Light blue sea 2011
oil and acrylic on linen
112 x 142.5 cm
(photo Rob Little)
oil and acrylic on linen
112 x 142.5 cm
(photo Rob Little)
Mercurial sea 2013
acrylic on linen 122.5 x 152.5 cm (photo Rob Little) |
Sea (divers) 2013
engraved glass, acrylic over acrylic on paper 66.5 x 66.5 cm (photo Rob Little) |
Sea (eclipse) 2013
engraved glass, acrylic over pastel on paper 66.5 x 66.5 cm (photo Rob Little) |
Sea (whales) 2013
engraved glass, acrylic over pastel on paper 66.5 x 66.5 cm (photo Rob Little) |
Sea (fractal) 2013
engraved glass over acrylic on paper 66.5 x 66.5 cm (photo Rob Little) |
Abyssal Sea 2013
acrylic and oil on linen 122.5 x 152.5 cm (photo Rob Little) |
Green/gold sea 2011
oil, acrylic and gold leaf on linen 112 x 142.5 cm (photo Rob Little) |
Celadon sea 2011
oil, acrylic and gold leaf on linen 112 x 142.5 cm (photo Rob Little) |
Desert Dies/Desert Blooms III
(with Steenus von Steensen), 2011 pigment print, acrylic on rag paper 71.4 x 51.0 cm |
Desert Dies/Desert Blooms VII
(with Steenus von Steensen), 2011 pigment print, acrylic, colour pencil on rag paper 71.4 x 51.0 cm |
Red/pink sea 2011
oil, acrylic and gold leaf on linen 112 x 142.5 cm (photo Rob Little) |
Sea Plunge I 2010 and Micky and the Whale
(with Steenus von Steensen) 2013 projection, 10 mins |
Sea Plunge I 2010
acrylic on linen and canvas
3 panels, 152.5 x 122.5 cm each
(photo Rob Little)
acrylic on linen and canvas
3 panels, 152.5 x 122.5 cm each
(photo Rob Little)
Micky and the Whale (death and infinity) 2010-2013
watercolour, acrylic, colour pencil on paper 20 x 20 cm |
Micky and the Whale (white whale) 2010-2013
acrylic on paper 20 x 20 cm |
Sea Plunge II 2010
acrylic, oil on linen and canvas 3 panels, 152.5 x 122.5 cm each (photo Rob Little) |
Botany Bay 2010 (with Steenus von Steensen)
No. 6 Girl, La Perouse pigment print 20 x 25 cm |
Botany Bay 2010 (with Steenus von Steensen)
No. 35 Tug Boat, Kamay Botany Bay National Park pigment print 20 x 25 cm |
Botany Bay 2010 (with Steenus von Steensen)
No. 31 Steam, Kurnell, hand-painted pigment print 20 x 25 cm |
