Date: April 10 through July 26, 2026
Gallery: Dōshi Gallery in SAM Lobby and DeSoto Family Vault
oil on linen, 48 x 48 inches
Presence brings together two recent bodies of work by Pennsylvania artist Michael Allen. One is a selection of Allen’s signature drawings and paintings from the past 12 years, depicting the atmospheres and fleeting moments within his commonplace. The other is a collection of plein air paintings, painted onsite in single settings, from 2012 to 2018. These two bodies of work commingle in a process of observations gathered over prolonged periods of time and depict the delicate balance between nature and development.
From vast valleys of farmland of the Pennsylvania Piedmont to the towering bridges spanning the Susquehanna River, Allen’s work celebrates the overlooked, in an attempt to reveal and understand experience within each environment. Allen’s painted places are his lived-in spaces, his day-to-day surroundings. It is through his familiarity with these places that he explores deeper connections between the land and its inhabitants. These images, witnessed and collected over many years, are not depictions of one specific moment, but rather a combination of experience distilled over time. They go beyond a simple record of a place and time; they contribute to and extend a long tradition of landscape painting.
Through Allen’s observations, the relationship between nature and development is depicted time and time again. Found dispersed within Allen’s paintings and drawings, flora and fauna coexist among a myriad of structures and turned earth, in varying climatic conditions. In his work, ephemeral beauty of the wider world is revealed from the vantage point of the southeast Pennsylvania landscape.
Independent curator Karena LaMonica contributes a glowing review of Michael Allen’s exhibition in her article The Intimacy of Space: Sunday Reflections on the work of Michael Allen.
