about me
Heather Allen was born in the UK and attained a BA Honours in Fine Art and Art History at Reading University in 1974. After 20 years of full- and part-time teaching art to teenagers, adults and tertiary education students whilst continuing to produce her own work, she studied Combined Media at Chelsea Art School, receiving an MA in 1997. She has been living and working in Berlin since 2006.
Her work includes figurative and non-figurative pieces in the form of paintings, sculptures, drawings, videos, installations and performances.
Her works are part of both public and private collections including Accenture GmbH, Campus Krönberg, the Rhineland-Palatinate Culture Collection, the Department for Science and Art Collection, Frankfurt/Main and the Budapest City Art Collection.
Statement
Picking up a pencil and drawing was as natural to me as breathing and eating as a child. I drew endless figures, people doing what people do, because they fascinated me, and still do.
When I studied Fine Art at Reading University in the 70s, abstraction was the dominant art form. Under its influence I began to move from figurative to non-figurative work based on the implied extensions and movements of objects in space. This repeated movement between the figurative and the non-figurative is evident throughout my work.
The small-scale figures, initially self-portraits, made between 1997 and 2012 “avoid the anecdotal because the intuitively coordinated actions, captured in facial expressions, have no obvious meaning. In other words, the meaning is left open. Something is happening, but what is happening may change course in one direction or another, may dissolve. It is as if the group dynamics, together with the individual characters, must be understood as a process of self-discovery within the collective setting, as a transfer of this identification of the self into the collective setting”. (Dr Jean-Christophe Ammann, catalogue text ‘Heather Allen’)
While the figures are active in the world in ways that we recognise, albeit sometimes ambiguously, the sculptures and paintings that have been coming out of the studio since 2013 have their roots in the subconscious. I let the shapes, forms and lines emerge intuitively, the decisions made are more visceral than intellectual. I don’t know what the end result will be until I reach the point of ‘this is it’. Hence the title of the latest series: ‘Neo-Geo …’, a ‘new geography’ of the subconscious.
Whether it’s the human body or shapes and forms, the work is always about movement, shifting perspective, breaking barriers and discovery; finding a way forward to a deeper understanding of self. “The immediate sensory event becomes the mediating medium of non-verbal knowledge, the sensory experience becomes the foundation of knowledge and understanding.” (Prof. Dirk van der Meulen)
Heather Allen 2024
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Education
MA, Chelsea College of Art & Design (Fine Art – Combined Media), London
BA Hons., Reading University (Fine Art & Art History)
Grants
2019 Corona work grant, Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa, Berlin
2008 Work grant, Berlin Senat
2003 Prizewinner, Frankfurter Verein für Künstlerhilfe e.V.
1997 British Council Study Award
1996 Project grant, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art, Norwich
Residencies
2012 Ostrava, Czech Cultural Ministry
2005 Frankfurt/Main-Budapest cultural exchange programme
2005 Artist Residency Programme, Galerie Hermann & Wagner, Berlin
2003 Frankfurt-Salzburg cultural exchange programme
2002 Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems
Catalogues
2011 Plastische Werke, BBG, Berlin
2011 The Ideal Man, ArToll, Bedburg-Hau
2011 Art on Lake, Museum of Fine Art, Budapest
2010 Kurt-Kurt, Kurt-Kurt Projektzentrale, Berlin
2010 Dreimaldrei, Römer 9, Frankfurt/Main
2009 Ici Berlin, La Condition Republique, Lille/Roubais
2008 Selected Artists, NGBK, Berlin
2008 Bodenlos, Coma, Frankfurt/Main
2005 Heather Allen, 1822-Stiftung, Frankfurt/Main
2004 Ich will, das Du mir glaubst, 9. Triennale Kleinplastik, Fellbach
2003 Heather Allen, Salon Verlag, Cologne
2002 In Vitro, Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems
2002 Ich sind ganz viele, Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems
1999 Home Abroad, Konstantin Adamopoulos, Frankfurt/Main
1996 Collections and Reflections, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich
1996 Gasworks, Gasworks Gallery, London
1994 Forgotten Present, Tallinn Norwich Kunstikontakt, Ajaloo Institute, Estonia
1992 East and South, Norwich Gallery, Norwich
Collections (selection)
Dr Jean-Christoph Ammann private collection, Frankfurt/Main
Dr Kasper König private collection, Berlin
Dr Klaus Gallwitz private collection, Karlsruhe
Brigitte von Ribbentrop private collection, Frankfurt/Main
Christoph, Graf Douglas private collection, Frankfurt/Main
Accenture GmbH, Campus Krönberg, Taunus
Sammlung Rheinland-Pfalz für Kultur
Sammlung Amt für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Frankfurt/Main
Klostermann Verlag, Frankfurt/Main
Sammlung Advotec, Giessen
de Ligt private collection, Nürnberg
Fellbach City Art Collection
Budapest City Art Collection
Cerwick private collection, Giessen
Dörges private collection, Berlin
Berlin
Berliner Bau Genossenschaft
Solo/two-person shows
2024
Neo-Geo, Projektraum Blah Blah, Berlin
2022
Here to there and back – again, Kurt-Kurt Projektzentrale, Berlin
2018
Here to there and back, Projektraum Blah Blah, Berlin
Once upon a Time, with Thomas Henriksson, Projektraum Blah Blah, Berlin
2015
Comin’ round the mountain or what the hell?!, with Katrin Hoffert, Galerie Axel Obiger, Berlin
kurz-kurz in Kurt-Kurt, with Thomas Henriksson, Kurt Kurt Projektzentrale, Berlin
2012
Alius Mundus, Kunsthalle m3, Berlin
2011
Plastische Werke, BBG, Berlin
2009
Climb, Waygood, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
2008
Line up and be, berlin art scouts, Berlin
The House at Egg Stream, Video Space, Galerie Herrmann & Wagner, Berlin
2007
Balcony, Oasenschatten with Jan Philip Scheibe, Kurt-Kurt Projekzentrale, Berlin
Cellar, Pince Galeria, Budapest
Kunstblock 1, Advotec, Giessen
2006
Where is she, and who did the work?, Galerie Perpetuel, Frankfurt am Main
Der Esel ist Tot, with Julia Oschatz, Heimspiel, Frankfurt am Main
2005
What didn’t happen to me in Berlin, ARP, Galerie Hermann & Wagner, Berlin
Heather Allen, Forum-1822, Frankfurt am Main
Heather Allen, Stadt Galerie, Fellbach
2003
Ain’t she sweet…?, Zagreus Projekt, Berlin
2002
Eva und der Teufel, Ausstellungsraum de Ligt, Frankfurt
Tight skin, skin deep, with Vasiliki Ghoti, Mafuji Gallery, London
At Home with Freud, don’t miss, Frankfurt am Main
Raus!, OP31, Frankfurt am Main
Permanent Installation, Amt für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Frankfurt am Main
2001
Heather Allen
, Simon Spiekermann Gallery, Dusseldorf
2000
Somewhere else, Wohnraum Kasper König, Frankfurt am Main
1999
Heather Allen, AusstellungsHalle 1A, Frankfurt am Main
1996
Heather Allen, Commercial Gallery, London
Looks, Martha Stevns, Fressingfield
Be the Best…Beat the Rest, with Helen Smith, Waygood Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
1995
Object of Desire, Gasworks Gallery, London
Split, King’s Lynn Art Centre
The Swaffham Collection, Assembly Rooms, Swaffham
Group shows
2023
Faces and Voices, Leize Jenius in the Werkhalle Wiesenburg, Berlin
The Gemini Show, WIRWIR, Berlin
WARSAW>KIN<BERLIN, curated by Elizabeth Sonneck (superbien! Berlin) and Kathryn Zazenski (Stroboskop Warsaw), Milchhof, Berlin
2021
VANREYBER, Werkhalle Wiesenburg, Berlin
2020
Sleep is overrated, Kurt-Kurt Projektzentrale, Berlin
Green, Projektraum Blah Blah, Berlin
2019
INVASIO, Leize Jenius in Projektraum Blah Blah, Berlin
2018
LAZINESS, Na Kashirke Gallery, Moscow
Let’s Hobnob: Turn on, Karens Minde Kulturhus, Copenhagen
2017
LEIZE JENIUS in the Wiesenburg, Werkhalle Wiesenburg, Berlin
2016
Coming all together, Galerie Perpetuel, Frankfurt am Main
2014
Nichts so unbedingt contemporary, Artloft, Berlin
tassewederkommenochfisch, Kunsthalle m3, Berlin
2013
New Artists Group Show, Karin Weber Gallery, Hong Kong
2012
Ortstermin, Galerie Nord/Reformationskirche, Berlin
What I like, curated by Marc Wellmann, Schaufenster, Berlin
Altro Mondo, Casa con Vista, Rome
Friction!, HomeBase, Berlin
2011
Short & Intense II, Kurt-Kurt Projektzentrale, Berlin
Naked Factory, Kunsthalle m3, Berlin
Dirty Fingers, die Wiesenburg, Berlin
Art on Lake, Museum of Fine Art, Budapest
Artworks on Water, Vasarely Museum, Budapest
Nice to see you, Galerie Koeln-Art, Cologne
The Ideal Man, ArToll, Bedburg-Hau
2010
Balmoral Blend, Hans-Arp Museum Rolandseck
Du willst es doch auch, Hase, M3 Kunsthalle, Berlin
3 x 3; Fremde Bewohner, Roemer 9, Frankfurt / Main
2009
Selected Artists, NGBK, Berlin
ICI BERLIN, La Condition Publique, Lille / Roubaix
Configurations, Collyer and Bristow, London
Armella Show Erfurt, Kunsthaus Erfurt
Inselglück, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin
2008
Bodenlos, Coma, Frankfurt am Main
Everybody knows this is nowhere, Galerie Wendt & Friedmann, Berlin
2007
100 Days = 100 Videos, GL Strand, Copenhagen
Inselglück, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin
bas_ART, Saarlaendische Galerie, Berlin
2006
100 Days = 100 Videos, Heidelberger Kunstverein
De(zentral), Kunstverein Giessen
Crazy, Brick 5, Vienna
2004
Extrem, Mousonturm, Frankfurt am Main
9. Triennale Kleinplastik, Alter Kelter, Fellbach
The House at Egg Stream, Heimspiel, Frankfurt am Main
Me, Myself and I, DKB Projektraum, Berlin
2002
Deutsches Eck, Galerie Vaclava Spaly, Prague
Sequences, Kuvataideakatemian Galleria, Helsinki (video programme)
And then there were nine, Fruchthalle, Kaiserslautern
2001 Tafelrunden, Maximilliansforum, Munich (video programme)
Sour Cherry Soup, Mafuji Gallery, London
Art Disco, Plus Gallery, Düsseldorf
2000
Anyone can be almost anyone they want to be, Galerie Brigitte Trotha, Frankfurt am Main
no-site specific, Transit Gallery, London
face-à-face, kunstpanorama, Lucerne
New Visions, Glasgow
1999
Il camino astratto, Change Gallery, Rome (video programme)
Home Abroad, Galerie ak, Frankfurt am Main
1998
HAMKPS, Galerie Thomas Rehbein, Cologne
Frankfurt Art Fair, with Galerie Thomas Rehbein
Adhocracy, Galerie Herold, Bremen
1997
Chelsea 97; 4 Artists, Paton Gallery, London
Collections and Reflections, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art, Norwich
Connected, Sunderland City Art Gallery
1996/97
Evidence, Ikon Gallery Touring, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
1996 Forgotten Present, International Visual Art Symposium, Vilnius
Sad, Gasworks Gallery, London
1995
Back Row Bingo, Regal Cinema (disused), Norwich
Abrasion, Visionfest, Liverpool
1994
Tallinnnorwich Kunstikontakt, Ajaloo Institute, Tallinn
1992
East, Norwich Gallery, Norwich