Simon Allen’s dynamically carved wood, gilded and pigmented wall sculptures, draw on an awareness of diverse aspects from the natural world.

The carving stage is physical and expressive. The rhythmically rippling surfaces, swooping undulations and swirling peaks and troughs represent the trace elements of a physical carving process that has its own bodily rhythm. By contrast, the painstaking application of gesso and ‘bole’ — the gilder’s ground formed from clay and pigment — and the gentle brushing on and burnishing of precious leaf call on a more contemplative cast of mind.

It is the tension between these two modes of awareness that gives the finished works their singular meditative presence. Works combine an almost kinetic sculptural energy with luxurious surface texture that respond sensitively to ambient colour and light.

Born in Bristol, Simon Allen gained a Fine Art degree at Falmouth College of Art. Based in Cornwall, he is an elected member of the Newlyn Society of Artists and has had numerous solo exhibitions in the UK and USA including at The National Maritime Museum, Falmouth, Messums on Cork Street, and at Galerie Pelar in New York.

Allen’s sculptures have had much success worldwide and are in a number of art collections including The World Gold Council in London, Washington and New York, The Ritz - Carlton hotel in Hong Kong, The British Embassy in Madrid, The Connaught and Corinthia Hotels in London, as well as banks such as Coutts & Co and RBA, and investment companies such as Schroders and BC Partners.


CV

Born 1967, Bristol. Currently living in Cornwall


EDUCATION

1986 – 1988 BA fine art Falmouth school of Art 1986 -88


SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2013
Lumina, Millennium

2011
Shifting Sand / Drawing with Light, Millennium

2010
Beaux Arts, Bath

2009
Silent Rhythms, Millennium

2008
Beaux Arts, Bath

2007
Goldfish Fine Art, Penzance

2006
Beaux Arts, Bath

2005
Goldfish Fine Art, Penzance

2006
National Maritime Museum, Falmouth
Galerie Pelar, Long Island, New York

2001
Transitions 2, Newlyn Art Gallery


SELECTED MIXED EXHIBITIONS

2013
London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington 2012
Millennium Mixed Winter
Beaux Arts Summer Exhibition, Beaux Arts, London

London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington 2011
London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington
Millennium Mixed Winter
Mixed Exhibition, Clerkenwell, London
The Lancasters, Hyde Park, London

2010
Art London, Chelsea
London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington
Millennium Mixed Winter
Full Circle Art Consultancy

2009
Art London, Chelsea
London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington
Millennium Mixed Winter
Depth of Vision, Coutts, Full Circle Art Consultancy

2008
Millennium Mixed Winter
NSA, The Drawing Room, The Exchange, Penzance
Art London, Chelsea
20/21, Royal College of Art, London
Mixed Easter, Goldfish Fine Art, Penzance
Mixed Winter, Goldfish Fine Art, Penzance
London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington

2007
London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington
Form, Olympia
Accenture Exhibition, Accenture Offices, London
Tempest Radford Art Consultants
Art Now Cornwall?, Goldfish Fine Art, Penzance
MOVE, Goldfish at Vyner Street, London
Artists of Fame and Promise, Beaux Arts, Bath
Art London, Chelsea

2006
London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington
Mixed Exhibition, Beaux Arts, Bath
NSA, Goldfish Fine Art, Penzance

2005
London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington
NSA, Thompson’s Gallery, London
NSA, Norbert Lynton Critic’s choice, Lemon St, Truro
NSA new members, Newlyn Art Gallery
Lynne Stover Gallery, Cambridge

2004
Messums, Cork St, Art London, Islington
Mixed Exhibiton, Goldfish Fine Art, Penzance
NSA Christmas Show, Newlyn Art Gallery

2003
Messums, Cork St, London
London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington
2002 Messums, Cork St, London
Galerie Pelar, Long Island, NY


COLLECTIONS

The British Embassy, Madrid
BC Partners
Schroders
Coutts & Co
Royal Bank of Scotland
The Forbury Hotel, Reading
Les Ambassadeurs Casino
The St. Regis, Atlanta, USA
Hellbay Hotel
Sovereign Capital
Kelly Hoppen
Travelex
The Connaught Hotel
Adam Lay
Terence Disdale
Bannenberg & Rowell
Princess Firyal of Jordan
The Corinthia Hotel
The Ritz Carlton, Hong Kong
The World Gold Council, London
The World Gold Council, Washington
The World Gold Council, New York