Leslie Allen: Fresh Paint, Seager Gray Gallery

LESLIE ALLEN

FRES H PAINT

LESLIE ALLEN: Fresh Paint Exhibition Dates: March 3 - March 29, 2015 Reception for the Artist: Friday, March 13, 6 to 8pm Front Cover: Leslie Allen, Cliff Hanging, 36 x 35 in, oil on canvas over panel Back Cover: Leslie Allen, Bead Flower with Turner and Avery, 60 x 60 in, oil on canvas over panel Forward by Chester Arnold Photo Credit: Craig Kolb Direct Inquiries to; Seager Gray Gallery 108 Throckmorton Avenue Mill Valley, California 94941 415-384-8288 art@seagergray.com all rights reserved

Leslie Allen : Fresh Paint I take particular satisfaction in writing about Leslie Allen’s work.

It is the pride of a teacher who encountered a perspicacious young student who I recognized had fissionable passion for painting, but was a watercolorist. What Leslie has accomplished is a perfect fusion of her curious, energetic mind into the color and texture of paint itself, with no need to really describe anything we know, but somehow taking us to places again and again that are exhilaratingly new. A world knifed and scumbled, scraped and brushed with all of the dynamic range of great Jazz improvisations, and sometimes as lyrical and penetrating as Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

This was the dream of Abstract Expressionism of the mid-20th century, and as we see now is a dream of great vitality that keeps revealing in the hands of devoted and gifted practitioners.

Leslie’s ignition was brilliant, and the subsequent years of work have continued to amaze and delight lovers of high-octane abstraction. I would call this smart paint, passionate paint, and especially, in this case, Fresh Paint. As fresh, in fact, as it gets. And it is 100% Leslie Allen. Can’t you smell the joy of linseed oil in the gallery?

Chester Arnold Sonoma, California February 2015

Ask Me Four Times

Quadriptych 36 x 35 in (4), 72 x 70 in oil on canvas over panel 2014

Learning to Meditate

60 x 60 in oil on canvas over panel 2014

Bead Flower with Turner & Avery 60 x 60 in oil on canvas over panel 2015

Biscuits and Gravy

60 x 60 in oil on canvas over panel 2014

Chinese Lanterns

60 x 60 in oil on canvas over panel 2015

Cliff Hanging -- On Purpose Diptych 36 x 35 in, 36 x 24 in, 36 x 59 in oil on canvas over panel 2015

Poker Time

Triptych 36 x 24 in (3), 36 x 72 in oil on canvas over panel 2015

Quietly Tethered

Diptych 60 x 40 in (2), 60 x 80 in oil on canvas over panel 2015

Wondrous Fez

40 x 60 in oil on canvas over panel 2015

Metro Parklets I & II

Diptych 36 x 35 in (2), 36 x 70 in oil on canvas over panel 2015

Sunny Day -- Sunday Drive

Diptych 36 x 35 in (2), 36 x 70 in oil on canvas over panel 2014

Origami, Beeswax and the Bard 40 x 60 in oil on canvas over panel 2015

Blue Tacks -- Cigar Box Top Diptych 36 x 35 in (2), 36 x 70 in oil on canvas over panel 2015

Notre Dame Re-imagined Quadriptych 60 x 10 in (4), 60 x 40 in oil on canvas over panel 2015

Yellow and Blues for Frankie 40 x 42 in oil on canvas over panel 2014

Speech Bubble Blues

36 x 35 in oil on canvas over panel 2014

Exit City to Milton Avery Seaside 36 x 35 in oil on canvas over panel 2014

My Mama Told Me

60 x 48 in oil on canvas over panel 2015

Lone Rider Writer

36 x 35 in oil on canvas over panel 2015

LESLIE ALLEN 1954 Alamogordo, NM Selected Exhibitions: 2015 2014

2013

2012 2011 2011 2010

2009 2008 2008 2007 2007 2006 2006 2006 2005

2004 2004 2003 2002 2002 2001 1999 1995

“Leslie Allen: Fresh Paint”, Seager Gray Gallery “All in the Family”, Group Show, Seager Gray Gallery Aqua Art Miami, Seager Gray Gallery artMRKT, San Francisco, Seager Gray Gallery Marin MoCA Altered Book Show, Novato CA “Cadenza”, one person exhibition, Seager Gray Gallery Context Art Miami, Miami, Seager Gray Gallery artMRKT, San Francisco, Seager Gray Gallery Marin MoCA Altered Book Show, Novato CA “New Paintings”, one person exhibition, Seager Gray Gallery artMRKT, San Francisco CA, Seager Gray Gallery Aqua Art Miami, Miami FL, Seager Gray Gallery Summer Salon, Donna Seager Gallery Marin MoCA Altered Book Show, Novato CA “Drawings: Line to Shadow: Baker’s Dozen” Marin Civic

Center, San Rafael CA “For Paint’s Sake” one person exhibition, Donna Seager Gallery, San Rafael CA Group Show, Donna Seager Gallery, San Rafael CA “Taking the Plunge” one person exhibition, Donna Seager Gallery, San Rafael CA “Secrets” Group Exhibition, Artisans Gallery, San Rafael CA Projekt30.com November 2007, juried on-line exhibition “Variations on a Hue,” Artisans Gallery, San Rafael CA, group exhibition Projekt30.com December 2006, juried on-line exhibition Projekt30.com July 2006, juried on-line exhibition “Ebb & Flow” Sausalito Arts Commission, juried group exhibition, Sausalito CA “Under the Influence” two person exhibition, First Presbyterian Church, Sausalito CA “Dichotomies” Eclexion, Mill Valley CA, one person exhibition Shoe Envy, Mill Valley CA, one person exhibition Jessica Hall Associates, Larkspur CA, group exhibition “Abstractly” O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley CA, juried group exhibition Sausalito Bay Model, Sausalito Artists Association, Sausalito CA, group exhibition Mill Valley Library, Mill Valley CA, one person exhibition Mill Valley City Hall, Mill Valley,CA, two person exhibition College of Marin, Kentfield CA, juried group exhibition

1990 1986 1986 1982 1979 1975 1975

Civic Plaza, Taos NM, juried group exhibition Indian Valley College, Novato CA, three person exhibition Stackhouse Gallery, San Francisco CA, one person exhibition Rogers & Wells, San Diego CA, one person exhibition Federal Courthouse, San Diego CA, one person exhibition Federal Courthouse, San Diego CA, group exhibition Mission Hills Yoga Institute, San Diego CA, one person exhibition

Corporate Patrons: Alliance Capital Management, San Francisco CA Boeger Winery Inc., Placerville CA Doral Park Avenue Hotel, New York NY Espire Communication, Tulsa OK Green Music Center, Rohnert Park CA Phillip Burton Federal Building, San Francisco CA Federal Home Loan Bank, San Francisco CA Hansen Bridgett, San Francisco CA Inn at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach CA Law Offices of J. Frank George, APC, Fairfax CA Murphy Pearson Bradley & Feeny, San Francisco CA Tropicana Convention Center, Las Vegas NV WestAmerica Bank, Sausalito CA Publications: Knight Letter, Lewis Carroll Society of North America(Illustrations 1993-1998) Like it Matters: Artists for Better Images, Encinitas CA (Essays/ Illustrations 1992) Affiliations: ICB Artists Association, Board Member Sausalito Arts Commission (Chair, 2004-07) Sausalito Arts Commission, Public Art Advisory Group, Member Marin Arts Council, Member Headlands Center for the Arts, Member El Paso Artists Association, Member Art Education: 1989-92 Academy of Art, San Francisco CA – Fine Art 1982-89 College of Marin, Kentfield CA – Fine Art 1978-80 UCSD, San Diego CA – Graphic Arts 1982-94 Painting Mentors and other Private Teachers in CA, NM and France