Simon Allen
Simon Allen was in born in 1967 in Bristol and studied Fine Art at Falmouth. He worked as a technician at Waddington Galleries, and then trained as a gilder. Since his return to live in Cornwall in 1994 he has worked as a professional artist, making and developing his unique gilded wall sculptures. His work is in the collection of the World Gold Council in Shanghai, London and New York; interior design guru Kelly Hoppen; the British Embassy in Madrid; the Royal Academy of Engineering in London, and many others in this country and abroad.
The carving process is gestural and physical – a trace of movement and energy using power tool and chisel. It seeks a sense of balance, between a transitory experience of the reflective surface and the physicality of the object, a space where shadow has the equivalent visual weight as solid form. The application of bole and gesso, and subsequently the gold leaf is, by contrast, a painstaking or meditative process.
It is in the wilds of Cornwall that Allen finds his energy and inspiration. The late Breon O’Casey described his work thus: ‘There is an invisible landscape which the visible landscape can only hint at. This is the rhythmic landscape of energy. This landscape is not the bird but the bird’s flight, not the river, but the river’s flow, not the tree, but the leaves bending to the wind. And it is to this hidden landscape that Simon’s sculptures refer, reducing it and reforming it to abstract pattern. To own a sculpture of Simon’s is not to own a window on the world, but to bring the world itself into the room.’
Solo Exhibitions
2006, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020 – Beaux Arts Bath
2017 – ‘Aerial’ at Beaux Arts Bath
2015- Beaux Arts Gallery, London
2009, 2011, 2016- Millennium Gallery, St. Ives
2005, 2007- Goldfish Fine Art, Penzance
2004- National Maritime Museum, Falmouth
2004- Galerie Pelar, Long Island, NY
2001- Transitions 2, Newlyn Art Gallery
Selected Exhibitions
2019
‘The Summer Exhibition’, Beaux Arts Bath
2017
‘Artists of Fame and Promise’ Summer Exhibition, Beaux Arts Bath
2016
Artists of Fame and Promise, Beaux Arts Bath
2012
Summer Exhibition, Beaux Arts London
Artists of Fame and Promise, Beaux Arts Bath
2010
Beaux Arts Bath, Summer Exhibition
2009
Artists of Fame and Promise, Beaux Arts Bath
2007
Artists of Fame and Promise, Beaux Arts Bath
‘Form’ Olympia, Goldfish Fine Art Penzance
Accenture Exhibition, Accenture Offices London,
Tempest Radford Art Consultants
‘Move’ Vyner Street London, Goldfish Fine Art
2006
Summer Exhibition, Beaux Arts Bath
2005
NSA mixed exhibition, Thompson’s Gallery, London
NSA Norbert Lynton Critic’s choice, Lemon St Gallery, Truro
NSA new members, Newlyn Art Gallery
Lynne Stover Gallery, Cambridge
2004
Messums, Cork St, Art London, Islington
Goldfish Gallery, Penzance
NSA Christmas show, Newlyn Art Gallery
2002
Messums, Cork St, London
Galerie Pelar, Long Island, NY
Art Fairs
2005, 2008, 2012-14, 2016-2019 London Art Fair
2015, 2018-2019 AAF Battersea London, Beaux Arts Bath
2016 LAPADA Fair, Mayfair, London, Beaux Arts Bath
2012, 2014 Beaux Arts Bath, 20/21 British Art Fair
2008 Art London- Chelsea, London, Beaux Arts Bath
Collections
The World Gold Council London, Washington, New York, Shanghai
The British Embassy, Madrid
Kelly Hoppen, Interior Designer, London
The Royal Society of Engineers, London
BC Partners, London
Schroders, London
Coutts & Co, London
Royal Bank of Scotland
Sovereign Capital, London
Kensington Pavillion Members Club, London
Travelex , Lloyd Dorfmann, Boardroom and Private Yacht
The Connaught Hotel, London
The Corinthia Hotel, London
Claridges Hotel, London
The Ritz- Carlton, Hong Kong
Les Ambassaddeurs Casino, London
The St. Regis, Atlanta, USA
The Hell Bay Hotel, Isles of Scilly
Princess Firyal of Jordan (Private London Residence)
Salperton 3 (Luxury yacht)
The Eclipse (Superyacht)
Lady Sheila (Superyacht)
Elandess (Superyacht)
Britannia, P&O Cruise Ship