LINDA MIEKO ALLEN
December 12, 2024 - January 25, 2025
ATMOSPHERIA: SHAPE OF AIR
From December 12 to January 11 the gallery will show a new series of works by Linda Mieko Allen entitled Atmospheria: Shape of Air, works on paper of acrylic, ink transfer and graphite, each measuring 8 x 6 inches. The series continues the artist’s explorations of the atmosphere and the air around us as it changes and shifts.
It follows the thread of her investigation into atmospheric phenomena, spatial form, and manifestations of light, what she calls the “architecture of atmosphere.” The work alludes to the mysteries of the spaces in between. Two of her prior series were called Atmospherics and Thin Air, further underlining her commitment to the subject.
Living on the water outside the Metropolitan area of Boston, the artist is witness to the changes in atmosphere, they are almost palpable. During the pandemic, the absence of cars changed the quality of the air, the color of the air, the energy in the air. Allen tried to capture this change, these colors in her work. Blue is a dominant color in the new work, not just one blue and not a sky blue, but energetic electric blues bounce throughout the compositions along with abstract rhythmic shapes, the artist’s own kind of music. While abstract in concept, the artist’s concern with space is evident as one dives from one plane to another visually, sometimes tumbling from the heavens.
Allen’s work are hybrid manipulations of paint and drawing. The paintings are built of thin acrylic “transfer” layers, ink film, and other media on arches paper or paper on panels. Allen’s palette is distinctively her own, choosing to interplay cool and warm, grays and neutrals with a strong punch of color. Archetypal forms and line further inform the work with spatial possibilities. In the newest paintings light is a “primary subject,” a player on the field of the panel. The mark making moves across the surface as light and color shift, not unlike the magic of twilight colors in nature, changing the world from moment to moment.
Allen’s paintings invite close viewing and examination, they are invitations from afar and offer much up close. The initial impact is of color, energy, light and movement. Up close they reveal the intelligence of the artist musing on the state of the world today, with its many contradictions, confusions, and constant flux. These are 21st century paintings, not trying to solve problems, but posing questions for the viewer as the viewer takes in their voluptuous possibilities.
Q&A for Linda Mieko Allen re: Atmospheria
Q: What inspired you to paint changes in the atmosphere?
A: During the pandemic, as the world stopped, I started to observe the atmosphere changing. The pollution was abating as vehicles and industries stopped or slowed down. The atmosphere was clearer, color brighter, air smelled fresher. There was a cause and effect going on here. For every action there is a reaction and it was moving to witness that.
I started using the images of tone and variation to make transfers and utilized a them in my paintings and drawings at that time. That work is entitled Thin Air. I have continued to make images of atmosphere for current work as well. I find them potent and a great source of power.
Q: Do you view this show as a continuation from Atmospherics, your prior show,
or yet another evolution from that exploration?
A: Atmospherics addressed issues around place and displacement within the natural and not so natural world. I was interested in the cyclical pendulum of things coming together and falling apart in nature.
Atmospheria:Shape of Air considers the structure and shifts of the atmosphere…the architecture of atmosphere if you will. I find the atmospheric phenomena, spatial relationships, and manifestations of light and shadow create this architecture.
There is the larger arc of atmosphere as sky and horizon and beyond, the macro. However, there is also the immediate atmosphere of space we occupy as humans within spaces, the micro. I am also fascinated with the spaces that are in between things.
I find that both series of work address shifts, changes, and subtleties in nature and our witness to that change.
Q: Did you study science as well as art, leading to your in-depth exploration of atmospherics?
A: I did study science in college before becoming an art student. I was in pre-med and a nutritionist as well. It seemed like a natural progression really. I always see art and science as a unit inextricably related and codependent. I’m always doing research into areas that support my interests at the time.
Q: How did you arrive at the scale for the new body of work in Atmospheria?
A: When starting a new project or thought process, I usually work small to flesh out ideas and to figure scale. However as I started working on these small works in paper it became clear that THIS was the body of work. They are independent and connected at the same time. I’ve always had a fondness of small works. If anything, there is an engagement which brings you closer into the work which allows an intimate discourse.
Q: Is intimacy important to you in your work? Is the idea of holding a work in one’s hand to experience it part of the dialogue?
A: I feel most artists want engagement and intimacy for a viewer to feel connected to work. Whether it be large scale or small, a dialogue is a positive thing. The ability to hold a work in one’s hands is a strong and powerful experience.
Q: How did you arrive at the palette of the series? Blue seems a consistent favorite in all its various shades. Is it a reference to the sky? Has your new environment, living near the ocean, impacted the work?
A: While blue is a constant in some of the works, and obvious references to environment are there, I mostly love blue for what happens when it is next to warm colors. The dynamic of that juxtaposition gives a jolt and power to color.
Q: Does the ocean figure into this new series?
A: It certainly has influenced how I perceive atmospheric space and conditions. There is an expansion that happens to consciousness.
Q: Is process and the manner in which you create the work as important as the image? Are the pieces labor and time intensive?
A: For me, process is everything, from conception of a project to building work And to completion. It is a soulful experience.
The fact that these works are smaller does not diminish the work or labor that goes into them. I find smaller works to be just as labor intensive as larger ones.
Q: Do you relate your process to lacquer making in Japan?
A: In the paintings on panels, there is a connection to a layered process similar to lacquer work in Japan… But not an overt reference.
Q: Is the light in the new studio a factor in creating the paintings? Do you call them paintings or drawings?
A: The new studio had been such a joy and blessing. I simply feel true north and right in the space. The light as well as the atmospheric space is truly conducive to making work. I refer to these as works on paper… more inclusive! They are comprised of acrylic paint, ink transfer, and graphite. A combination of painting and drawing.
Q: The works are very architectural. Can you talk about your interest in architecture, design, and space, and how that inspires your work?
A: I see the world in terms of geometry, spatial relationships, and light and shadow. It is just how my brain envisions things. As an artist, I’m always looking and breaking down images into useable parts. I have long been interested in architectural design and atmosphere created by architecture. One of my favorite architects is Tadao Ando. His use of materials and dramatic and subtle use of light moves me.
About the Artist:
Linda Mieko Allen was born in Osaka, Japan. She received her B.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and attending Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. She has received paintings residencies from the American Academy in Rome, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, Nebraska; Bogliasco Foundation, Liguria, Italy; Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Woodside, California; MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire; Roswell Foundation, New Mexico; Roswell Artist-in-Residency Foundation, New Mexico; The Ucross Foundation, Clearmont, Wyoming; the Golden Foundation, New Berlin, New York; Fundación Valparaíso, Spain and Weir Farm Trust, Wilton, Connecticut. She has been the recipient of two Pollock-Krasner Awards and a grant from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
The artist’s work has been shown at Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California; Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, Connecticut; Monterey Museum of Art, California; New Jersey Center for the Arts, Summit; North Adams Contemporary Artists Center, Massachusetts; Roswell Museum and Art Center, New Mexico; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery, California; Selby Gallery, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida; University Art Gallery, California State, Hayward, California.
Among public collections in which her art is included are: Anderson Art Museum of Contemproary Art, Roswell, New Mexico; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California; Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Woodside, California; The David & Lucille Packard Foundation, Los Altos, California and Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.