Tom Allen (painter)

Tom Allen
Tom Allen
Born	1975 (age 50–51); Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	University of Southern California (BFA); Art Center College of Design (MFA)
Known for	Painting
Movement	Contemporary art

Tom Allen (born 1975, Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American painter based in Los Angeles. His work combines elements of symbolism, mysticism, and popular culture, drawing on sources ranging from fin-de-siècle art and literature to countercultural iconography and contemporary music. Allen is best known for his vividly colored, small-scale figurative paintings of flora, which merge art historical reference with psychological and psychedelic intensity.

Early life and education

Allen was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1975. He studied at the University of Southern California, where he earned his BFA in 1998, and later received an MFA from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, in 2001.^{[non-primary source needed]}

Work

Allen's paintings often depict stylized flowers and plants that are saturated with symbolic and atmospheric detail. Critics have noted their affinities with French fin-de-siècle painting and literature, particularly artists such as Édouard Vuillard and Gustave Moreau, as well as Art Nouveau design. His imagery also engages with astrology, mysticism, and post-1960s countercultural aesthetics.

Writing in Artillery, critic Ezrha Jean Black described Allen's floral imagery as “taking still life out of allegory” through a palette that hovers “between the psychological and the psychedelic.” His work has been compared to both Flemish still life traditions and the visionary qualities of countercultural art.^{[non-primary source needed]}

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

2025: Personae, Air de Paris, Paris, FR^{[non-primary source needed]}
2023: The Hour, The Approach, London, UK^{[non-primary source needed]}
2021: The Song, Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; The Promise, The Approach, London, UK^{[non-primary source needed]}
2020: Præternatura, Air de Paris, Paris, FR^{[non-primary source needed]}
2019: Là-bas, Lulu, Mexico City, MX^{[non-primary source needed]}
2017: The Lovers, Bel Ami, Los Angeles, CA^{[non-primary source needed]}
2010: Summerlands, Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA^{[non-primary source needed]}
2008: The Red in the Sky is Ours, Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA; Galerie Michael Janssen, Berlin, DE^{[non-primary source needed]}
2006: Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA^{[non-primary source needed]}
2005: Galerie Michael Janssen, Cologne, DE^{[non-primary source needed]}
2002: Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA^{[non-primary source needed]}

Selected group exhibitions

2025: JUST MORE, Air de Paris, Monte Carlo, MC; MORE JUST, Air de Paris, Paris, FR; Random Access Memory, Air de Paris, Paris, FR; Art Gstaad, Air de Paris, Paris, CH^{[non-primary source needed]}
2024: Trespass sweetly urged, Tanya Leighton, Berlin, DE^{[non-primary source needed]}
2023: Immersed, Jack Siebert Projects, Los Angeles, CA; Imperfect Paradise, Barbati Gallery, Venice, IT
2022: A Minor Constellation, Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, CA^{[non-primary source needed]}
2021: Particularities, X Museum, Beijing, CN^{[non-primary source needed]}
2017: Symbolisms, Cooper Cole, Toronto, CA; Therianthropy, Laura Bartlett Gallery, London, UK; Ruins in the Snow, High Art, Paris, FR^{[non-primary source needed]}
2016: A Change of Heart, Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA^{[non-primary source needed]}
2012: Landscape & Architecture, Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA^{[non-primary source needed]}
2004: Now Is a Good Time, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, NY^{[non-primary source needed]}
2002: crisp, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY^{[non-primary source needed]}
2001: Morbid Curiosity, Acme, Los Angeles, CA^{[non-primary source needed]}

Collections

Allen's work is included in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Sweeney Gallery, University of California, Riverside.^{[non-primary source needed]}

Selected press

Christina Catherine Martinez, “Stars Aligning: When Art Meets Astrology,” Art Basel, August 7, 2023
Ezrha Jean Black, “Ten More to Remember – or Simply Bring to Los Angeles,” Artillery, February 10, 2022
“Tom Allen’s Otherworldly Flowers Bloom at Lulu in Mexico City,” ARTnews, November 18, 2019
Christina Catherine Martinez, “Tom Allen,” Artforum, October 1, 2019
“Tom Allen ‘LÀ-Bas’ at Lulu, Mexico City,” Mousse Magazine, July 25, 2019
Leah Ollman, “Art Review: Tom Allen at Richard Telles,” Los Angeles Times, November 11, 2010
Christopher Knight, “45 Painters Under 45,” Los Angeles Times, December 2, 2007
Ken Johnson, “Art in Review,” The New York Times, April 19, 2002

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 "Tom Allen CV" (PDF). Chris Sharp Gallery. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
1 2 3 Black, Ezrha Jean (10 February 2022). "Ten More to Remember – or Simply Bring to Los Angeles". Artillery. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
↑ Martinez, Christina Catherine (7 August 2023). "Stars Aligning: When Art Meets Astrology". Art Basel. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
↑ "Tom Allen's Otherworldly Flowers Bloom at Lulu in Mexico City". ARTnews. 18 November 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
↑ Martinez, Christina Catherine (1 October 2019). "Tom Allen". Artforum. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
↑ "Tom Allen 'LÀ-Bas' at Lulu, Mexico City". Mousse Magazine. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
↑ Ollman, Leah (11 November 2010). "Art Review: Tom Allen at Richard Telles". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
↑ Knight, Christopher (2 December 2007). "45 Painters Under 45". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
↑ Johnson, Ken (19 April 2002). "Art in Review". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 September 2025.

External links

[cv-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 "Tom Allen CV" (PDF). Chris Sharp Gallery. Retrieved 17 September 2025.

[artillery-2] 1 2 3 Black, Ezrha Jean (10 February 2022). "Ten More to Remember – or Simply Bring to Los Angeles". Artillery. Retrieved 17 September 2025.

[3] Martinez, Christina Catherine (7 August 2023). "Stars Aligning: When Art Meets Astrology". Art Basel. Retrieved 17 September 2025.

[4] "Tom Allen's Otherworldly Flowers Bloom at Lulu in Mexico City". ARTnews. 18 November 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2025.

[5] Martinez, Christina Catherine (1 October 2019). "Tom Allen". Artforum. Retrieved 17 September 2025.

[6] "Tom Allen 'LÀ-Bas' at Lulu, Mexico City". Mousse Magazine. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2025.

[7] Ollman, Leah (11 November 2010). "Art Review: Tom Allen at Richard Telles". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 September 2025.

[8] Knight, Christopher (2 December 2007). "45 Painters Under 45". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 September 2025.

[9] Johnson, Ken (19 April 2002). "Art in Review". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 September 2025.

Tom Allen
Born	1975 (age 50–51) Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	University of Southern California (BFA); Art Center College of Design (MFA)
Known for	Painting
Movement	Contemporary art