Art bio / selected works

Digital Prints: A Little Bit of the Infinite

Abbreviated Art Biography
*Complete Art Bio

Selected Fellowships:
1971,72	The MacDowell Colony
1978-79	CAPS (Creative Artists Public Service) Grant (Sculpture)
1983	Yaddo Residency Fellowship
1985	LINE (NEA & NYS Council) Grant
1989	Artist-In-Residence Fellowship, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth

Selected Individual Exhibitions:
1967	Galerie 845, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1974	John Weber Gallery, NYC Galleria Toselli, Milan, Italy
1975	John Weber Gallery, NYC
1977	Galerie Maier-Hahn, Dusseldorf, Germany John Weber Gallery, NYC Franklin Furnace, NYC P.S. 1 Museum, Long Island City, NY
1978	Hal Bromm Gallery, NYC MTL Galerie, Brussels, Belgium Fine Arts Center, C.W. Post College, Glenvale, L.I., NY
1979	John Weber Gallery, NYC
1980	P.S. 1 Museum, Long Island City, NY
1981	Galerie Walter Storms, Munich, Germany Kunstforum, Stadt. Galerie im Lembachhaus, Munich, Germany Galleria Primo Piano, Rome, Italy
1983	The Fine Arts Galleries, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
1989	Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, Western Australia
2001	Art Resources Transfer, Inc., NYC New Arts Program, Kutztown, PA Binghamton University, SUNY, Binghamton, New York

2007	Art On Wall, Kingston, New York

Selected Group Exhibitions:
1976	"Contemporary Abstract Art: Works on Paper", Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
1977	"Prints in Series: Idea Into Image", The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY "Aphoto", Studio Marconi, Milan, Italy, (traveling exhibition)
1978	"Artwords Bookworks", Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, CA (traveling Exhibition)
1979	"New Work/New Editions", Multiples/Marion Goodman Gallery, NY
1981	"New Dimensions in Drawing 1950-1980", The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1984	Verbally Charged Images", The Queens Museum, NY (traveling exhibition)
1986	"Estampes et 'livres d' artistes' du XXe siecle: Enrichissements du Cabinet des Estampes ; 1978-1986", Bibliotheque Nationale, Departement des Estampes et de La Photographie, Paris, France
1989	"Serial Images", Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
2000	"Yaddo Artists", Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Bklyn, NY
2001	"Chromatic Cryptology", Tribes Gallery, NYC
2007	"Prints & Company" , East Gallery, William Patterson University, Wayne, N.J. (Sept.)

Selected Bibliography:
Gilbert-Rolfe, Jeremy, "Roberta Allen" (review), Artforum, May 1974, p 69 Deitch, Jeffrey, "Roberta Allen", (article), Arts Magazine, June 1977, p 6 Lopes Cardozo, Judith, "Roberta Allen" (review) Artforum, February 1978, pp 73, 74 O'Grady, Holly, "The Paradoxical Arrow: Roberta Allen's Installations And Books", (article), Arts Magazine, February 1979, pp 156,157 Friedel, Dr. Helmut, "Roberta Allen, Ascending/Descending Arrows" A Floor Installation", catalogue of exhibition at the Kunstforum, Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany, 1981 Stringer, John catalogue of exhibition at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, Australia, 1989 Smart, Paul, "Follow The Arrows", (article), Woodstock Times, Woodstock, N.Y. Jan.25, 2007, Pp. 15, 16 Einreinhofer, Nancy, "Prints & Company", catalogue of exhibition at William Patterson University, 2007-08

Selected Collections:
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC Robert Ryman William S. Lieberman, Chief Curator, 20th Century Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC; Werner H.l Kramarsky Cooper-Hewitt Museum, NYC Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France; Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio Worchester Art Museum, MA Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia Yale University Collection Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford CT.

pool installation pic copyright 2008 Roberta Allen

1978 Pool Installation, C.W. Post College, Glenvale, Long Island, NY

1981 Plan for Kunstforum Exhibition, "Ascending/Descending Arrows:
A Floor Installation", Munich, Germany

ARROW INSTALLATIONS 1976-1981; P.S. 1, MOMA, NY; MTL GALERIE, BRUSSELS; HAL BROMM GALLERY, NY; JOHN WEBER
GALLERY, NY; KUNSTFORUM, LENBACHHAUS, MUNICH, 1981

My installations combined sings with verbal labels to question conventional notions of surface/space. The arrow has been used to explore ambiguous and paradoxical aspects of direction, position, and placement. Arrows on floor planes defined as rising and (or) falling, from various positions, use a "perspective slant" as reference. Direction of each arrow changes when perceived from specified points. An arrow pointing towards the viewer (descending) from one position, points away from the viewer (ascending) as he/she moves to an opposite position. Arrows defined on sloped planes incorporate "perspective slants" with physical slants.This interplay, which collides with the viewer's expectations, is no more paradoxical than road signs with arrows pointing straight "up" to indicate straight ahead. When one reads road signs literally, the arrows assumes a humorous character. Ofen signs with arrows are placed at positions or angles on the road, so ambiguous to the driver that one cannot determine which of several directions to take. Arrow installations evolved from these experiences, using the indirect, or inherently ambiguous element that operates because the 2-dimensional sign is not identical with the direction it indicates in space.

from Pointless Acts Roberta Allen

From Pointless Acts

Definitions of familiar conventional signs, culturally implanted, are not intrinsic to the signs themselves, thus are open for redefinition. Common signs offer diverse and numerous possibilities for personal interpretation. Using conventional signs with verbal labels, I challenge conventional notions to question assumptions based upon learned cultural codes rather than perceptual information. My intent is not to establish alternate meanings but to expand perceptual boundaries. The cumulative works, rather than each individual work, exemplify this attitude and exist as part of a larger ongoing process where multiple opportunities for playing with possibility arise.

1980 "Everything In The World There Is To Know Is Known By Somebody But Not
By The Same Knower", mixed media installation, P.S. 1 Museum, Long Island City, NY