Mark Andrew Allen
“Mark Andrew Allen’s sophisticated jabs at consumer culture blend playful sarcasm with vibrant text messages woven into polychromatic backdrops” - Quendrith Johnson
Born in Houston, TX, Mark Andrew Allen is now an internationally represented artist based in Los Angeles. His work has gained recognition worldwide for its complex layering of mixed media works that create a narrative of modern American culture. Allen’s artwork is a culmination of many years of painting,
thinking and experiencing. He blends urban street art with his background of typography, mixed media collage, and abstract expressionism into each of his urban pop expressionist works.
As the son of fine/commercial artist Harrison Allen, Mark learned a lot very early on. After completing his bachelor degree in Commercial Art from Texas State University, Allen continued his studies at Parson’s School of Design in New York City where he met Andy Warhol in 1982. Shortly after, Mark moved to Pasadena, CA where he studied at the Art Center College of Design.
“I had an ah-ha moment early in my life. My dad bought a book for me that opened my mind to great art being created. I think it was titled Ten American Artists That Are Making A Difference… He inscribed inside the book: “study these artists who are making a difference in the art world, and not the local-yokals.”
I studied the artists Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, William de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, Joseph Cornell, and a few more. I wanted to create great work like them. Each one of them was pushing their own limits to reach a new place in art. That is what I am interested in as well. I am interested in being an artist of my own time and expressing that narrative in my own way.”
- Mark Andrew Allen
Allen’s art is featured in many private and corporate collections including Disney, Warner Brothers Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Studios, NBC / Universal Studios, Hanna-Barbara, Delta Airlines, U.S. Embassy - Athens and Greece.