Steve Allison: Finding Freedom through Surrealism
What is your background?
I’m from Arizona, my mom ran a cleaning business and my dad wasn’t around. When he was, he made life harder for us. I have a brother and four sisters and up until recently we were not that close. I am an oil painter and graphic designer. I have always been into comics, video games and anime, so I always wanted to get involved in making those. Either as a character artist, storyboarder or concept artist. As I got older I realized I didn’t want to tell other peoples stories or get told what to do by some Disney drone.
What are the themes you are exploring in your paintings?
I’m having a pretty consistent existential crisis (ongoing since 12 THANK YOU) and I think about the causes of that and paint it out. I look at institutions, cultural rituals and expectations, as well as my personal history. So for example I look at how growing up in an extremely Christian family has framed my worldview and affected my brain. I try to be nuanced with the story instead of stating anything is “all bad or all good”.
Why are you so drawn to surrealism?
Simply put, I enjoy the freedom of it. If I wanted to do a realistic real world depiction of something I’d take a photo. Surrealism allows your personality and weird brain to flex and tell a fuller story. You can be as subtle or as obvious with the message as you’d like.
In an increasingly digital world, what do you believe the future of painting is?
It will probably end up being done digitally by more and more people. It’s very accessible and doesn’t take up a lot of space. That being said, a handmade painting will always have a special feeling. Painting has been around a long time and will evolve, so I think it’s up to artists to keep up with tools and technologies that allow for different modes of painting. There will always be oil, acrylic or watercolor painting — they have a feel that digital can’t create and making those feels different as an artist. That’s me being sentimental and gushy, but looking at a canvas and holding the brush to create the strokes and shapes makes me feel more connected with the work.
What is something that you want the world to know about you?
I don’t have a lot to say to the world because I paint it out. If you want to get to know me, you have to look at my art. I’ve never been great with words, otherwise I’d be a writer. So I would rather tell the world to look at my art and take from it what you will. I may have an idea behind each piece but the viewer’s ideas are just as correct as the artists.
You can find Steven’s PRISM profile @ https://prismnfts.com/user/@stevenallison?sort=1&skip=0
Steven’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenarttime
Steven’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevenallisons/
