Ben Allen: Large Flowers

BEN ALLEN’S RECENT WORK MARKS A SHIFT AWAY FROM DIRECT CULTURAL ICONOGRAPHY TOWARDS A MORE DISTILLED VISUAL LANGUAGE IN HIS LATEST SERIES LARGE FLOWERS, WHERE ORGANIC FORMS ARE EXPLORED THROUGH LAYERED AND DISRUPTIVE PAINTERLY PROCESSES.

EACH PAINTING DEVELOPS THROUGH A PROCESS OF LAYERING AND REFINEMENT, BALANCING PRECISION WITH EXPERIMENTATION. ALLEN WORKS IN DIALOGUE WITH AI AS A GENERATIVE TOOL WITHIN THE STUDIO PROCESS, INTRODUCING CONTROLLED UNPREDICTABILITY INTO COMPOSITIONS WHILE MAINTAINING A STRONG SENSE OF AUTHORSHIP AND MATERIAL PRESENCE.

FLOWERS ARE CENTRAL TO THIS BODY OF WORK. THROUGH SCALE AND COLOUR ALLEN TRANSFORMS PETALS AND BLOOMS INTO BOLD, IMMERSIVE COMPOSITIONS THAT EVOKE JOY.

SURFACE AND TEXTURE REMAIN ESSENTIAL TO THE PAINTINGS. LAYERS REVEAL TRACES OF ADJUSTMENT, MOVEMENT AND HUMAN PROCESS.

COLOUR PLAYS A DEFINING ROLE THROUGHOUT THE SERIES. ALLEN METICULOUSLY MIXES HIS OWN PALETTES BY HAND, CAREFULLY BUILDING TONES SPECIFIC TO EACH COLLECTION RATHER THAN RELYING ON COLOUR DIRECTLY FROM THE TUBE. THIS PROCESS ALLOWS COLOUR TO BECOME AS MUCH A PART OF THE PAINTING AS THE FORM ITSELF. EVERY SHIFT IN TONE IS CONSIDERED, CREATING WHAT THE ARTIST DESCRIBES AS “A PERSONAL AND DISTINCTIVE VISUAL LANGUAGE.”

LARGE FLOWERS REFLECTS ALLEN’S ONGOING EXPLORATION WITHIN HIS PRACTICE, CELEBRATING NATURE, ABSTRACTION AND THE EVOLVING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMAN INSTINCT AND AI. ALLEN’S WORK HAS BEEN EXHIBITED INTERNATIONALLY AND IS HELD IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS ACROSS THE UK, EUROPE, THE UNITED STATES AND ASIA.

STUDIO: CORNWALL, UK