Interview: Guy Allen
Guy Allen (b. 1987) is a successful international artist who has exhibited in Dubai, New York and London and has his work in private collection including Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong. He is represented by Grandy Art, London.
At what age did you become interested in art?
GA: Art has always been my passion ever since I was young and then in school this was pushed further in the art department and there I knew that art was what I wanted to pursue.
Did you recieve a formal art education or are you mainly self-taught?
GA: Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design gave me opportunities to explore everything and for me to realise what discipline I wanted to focus on, this being print making, which was discovered during an Art school exchange programme with Ecole Nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 2013.
Can you describe your process. Do you draw from life or use photo references and how long does your process usually take?
GA: All my artworks are from life, photos and sketch books. The discipline that I work in is print making, particularly etching which is one of the first means of replicating an image more than once. In my more recent work I have been combining an overlay screen print on to my etchings as I’ve been longing to add colour to my etchings and this has been a achieved through working with the print masters at Jealous Printing Studios in London.
I could go on for ever about the process, but for a brief explanation, the etching process dates from the 16th century and no photographic aids are used. I draw through a resin resist (which is impervious to acid) on to a copper plate with an etching needle. The plate is then immersed in ferric chloride acid so that it is etched along the needle lines (resisting the waxed surface). This etched linear drawing provides the foundation for my plate. The three other stages in the making of my plates involve aquatint, screen print and lithography, in varying degrees.
The final highlights are then achieved by burnishing back into the surface of the plate exposing the linear structure of the image. The plates are then inked up and hand printed on to acid-free 300 gram weight Somerset paper through a 100 year old intaglio press at Artichoke Print Studios.
Where do you get your inspiration from? Who influences or has influenced you in the past?
GA: Inspiration has mostly been from my home county of Norfolk in England. Which flourishes with material to study. More recently I have been focusing on the horse as a subject matter, which I am really enjoying. The medium of etching and the muscular coat of the horse lend themselves to one another. All the horses that I do are done by endless stippling, where by the darker the area the closer the dots are together. Artists that inspire me are Rembrandt, George Stubbs, Afred Munnings, Andy Warhol and two current British artists Norman Ackroyd and Charming Baker.
“Recently I have been adding colour into my work through combining other print making disciplines, in particularly screen printing which adds a contemporary touch with the historic art of etching while always referring back to George Stubbs’ books The Anatomy of the Horse, which was first published in 1766.” — Guy Allen
What sort of art do you enjoy personally?
GA: I try and always find a reason to enjoy all art works that I see, some are more easier than others to do so. Naturally as a print maker I really enjoy looking at the history of print from Goya’s monochrome etchings to Hockney’s vibrant prints and all the inspiring printmakers inbetween, all of whom are continually producing all sorts of different prints.
Upcoming exhibitions
- ‘Birds, Bugs and Beasts’ till 14th May, 2017, Jealous Gallery, London.
- ‘Norfolk by Design’, 30th April — 30th September, Houghton Hall, Norfolk.
- Grandy Art ‘Summer Collection 2017’, 10th — 14th May, Oxleaze Barn, Gloucestershire.
Find out more on Guy Allen through his Instagram and Facebookpage.
Joyce Ter Horst
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