ALLAN PENN
RECENT WORK
Eye Candy is born from a desire to create paintings that make viewers’ mouths water—art that radiates pure joy. Each piece is carefully constructed from dozens of individually crafted acrylic elements, assembled into vibrant compositions that celebrate color, texture, and playful indulgence.
Eye Candy
Gridlock is an exploration of layered grids and vibrant colors, emerging from Allan’s fascination with the tension between structure, freedom, and joy amid chaos. The series echoes woven fabric, aerial city views, flickering digital screens, and deteriorating building facades. The abundance of layers creates paintings that invite the viewer to linger and feel the interplay of color against color, with infinite possibilities for exploration and discovery.
Gridlock
Allan
I am a painter, sculptor, and photographer. Across my work, I chase depth you can feel. I want it to hit you before you can name it, to resonate before the mind has a chance to intervene.
My paintings are constructed, not painted. I use pure pigment and heavy texture to build visceral weight with as many layers as a piece demands. Often, the paintings lean towards becoming an ‘object.’
I build grids only to see where they fail. I arrange colors to vibrate against each other. There is a system underneath the architecture. The impact is prismatic, sensory, and unapologetically direct. All you have to do is lean in and let the color do its work.
Allan Penn was born in Framingham, MA in 1961 and now resides in Wenham, MA. After graduating from Emerson College in 1983, Allan set his sights on becoming a professional photographer. It did not take long for him to establish himself as a local and national force in the industry, garnering him clients such as American Express, Infinity, Mastercard, Vogue and the New York Times to name a few.
In 2008 Allan founded Hollan Publishing Inc., producing bestselling non-fiction books across a variety of genres. After stepping away in 2023, Allan shifted his focus to launching another company in the novelty and gaming space.
Allan began painting in 2018 as a creative outlet beyond photography. However, Allan feels that he has been painting most of his life, given that he has always felt the movement or choreography of his paintings without having yet put paint to canvas. Once painting, Allan used this sense of movement to develop a distinct and unique style creating paintings characterized by their endless depth and countless layers.
Contact
Be In Touch