|
|
|
|
Artist Statement:
The most certain statement I
could possibly make about my
work is that it is saturated
with the hunt. Increasingly
it is filled with a profusion
of imagery from my
observations, social
interactions and intellectual
explorations. My daily
journey through the suburban,
urban, digital and industrial
landscape provides for a ...
Further Information
| |
Artist Exhibitions:
Texas Anti-Matter, Cardozier
Gallery, UTPB, Odessa TX
Texas Twang, Shift Gallery,
Seattle WA
Trophy & Lure, G Gallery,
Houston, TX
Celebrate Texas Art 2008,
Assistance League Houston,
Williams Tower Gallery,
Houston TX
Ulterior Motifs A.K.A. Camp
Marfa, The Crazywood Gallery,
Huntsville, TX
Glee at the G (A Group ...
Further Information
|
|
Artist Galleries:
G gallery, Houston, Texas
713.869.4770
Gallery 101, Houston, Texas...
Further Information
|
|
|
|
Collections:
Gus Kopriva, Houston, TX, USA,
private
Lester Marks, Houston, TX,
USA, private
Jeff Wortman, Los Angeles, CA,
USA, private
Robert Schiffler, Dayton. OH,
USA, private
Joe Aker, Houston, TX, USA,
private
Peter Balderas, Los Angeles,
CA, USA, private
University of Wyoming,
Laramie, WY, USA,
institutional
Michael Raiford & Todd Logan,
Austin, ...
Further Information
|
|
Commissions:
Coming Soon!
|
|
|
Reviews for J. Todd Allison:
|
|
|
Landscape is a subject that offers challenges and opportunities for the artist today. One can approach it naturalistically be assured of finding an audience. If however, an artist chooses to incorporate broader concerns or approaches such as abstraction or the inclusion of social or environmental elements their task is more difficult, and the reception is less assured. Todd Allison is taking this more challenging path and in the process, he brings the vernacular American tradition of landscape into the present.
The rise of landscape painting in the early 19th century was in part a reaction to the effects of industrialization and the corresponding growth of large cities on both sides of the Atlantic. The Industrial Revolution, which had begun in the late 18th century, marked a significant, and ultimately permanent shift from a rural to an urban culture as workers left farms for jobs in factories and cities. This shift marked a significant change in social and economic realms as well in the general rhythm of people’s lives.
Artists and poets responded to these new realities by romanticizing earlier connections to the land and raising moral and spiritual concerns about our changing relationships to the natural world. The process of defining this new relationship to Nature centered in part on discussions of the Sublime and the Beautiful. Briefly defined, the Sublime is that which inspires awe because of its sheer power or scale. It was thought that contemplation of the wonders of the natural world would inspire noble sentiments and lead the individual to a better life.
Allison’s paintings do not loose sight of this sentiment however, in his paintings natural wonders have been replaced by urban realities. The images in his work combine elements of traditional landscape with newer imaging techniques. His paintings incorporate material from such diverse sources as online satellite imaging services, aerial photos, platting surveys and blueprints. These divergent sources all present records of human interaction within, and ultimately our efforts to exploit and control the natural world.
When we look at the patterns of use and development of the land, the images that arise are markedly different from the paintings of the Romantic period. A messier and more complex picture supplants bucolic nature. Those earlier pictures, which still exist in our mind’s eye, are increasingly difficult to find. They have been replaced by urban sprawl and planned communities that promise a controlled environment - one that offers few surprises and no threat.
The central elements in Allison’s paintings are derived from topographical features of the real landscape in its present form. By using overlays and multiple images of subdivisions, breakwaters, and street grids he shows all of the improvements we impose upon the natural world. They function as signs of the cultural, economic and social patterns that are visible both from the street corner, and in satellite images made from space. Allison disrupts our expectations and encourages us to contemplate the vast distance between the romantic and the real. The resultant paintings are distillations of our remote and complex relationship to the landscape.
Allison offers us a challenge that is not as psychologically comfortable or easily accessible as we might expect. The apparent conflict between the painted image and the field on which it is placed serves to underscore the troubled relationship between nature and culture he is addressing. Allison refers to this intersection as the “un-resting point” in the painting. This idea of an un-resting point is perhaps a good metaphor for our current social and environmental dilemma.
Bill Frazier is an artist and writer who lives in Houston.
|
|
contact artist
