Born in 1970 in Heber City, Utah, USA
Lives and works in Tepoztlán, Mexico
Allen (b. Utah, 1970, lives and works in Tepoztlán, Mexico) is a self-taught sculptor who works in wood, stone and bronze, often with material sourced from his immediate surroundings. The artist's biomorphic works appear psychically charged and talismanic, simultaneously inviting and resisting classification.
Resembling roots, seed pods, molluscs and fossils, Allen’s sculptures appear to relate to the vast expanses of territory and monolithic natural formations that have punctuated his life: Utah where Allen spent his childhood; Joshua Tree, California, where Allen lived for over a decade; and Tepoztlán, Mexico, where the artist currently has his studio. Other works are reminiscent of torsos with clumsily protruding limbs, empty plinths or deconstructed architectural columns, which may be read as anti-monuments. Allen’s sculptures employ a hybrid process which combines intuitively hand-modelling small-scale clay sculptures in a process which embraces accident and subconscious expression, then translating these into large-scale works using a self-built robotic device. He finishes his works by manually sanding and polishing surfaces until the works gain a suppleness which complicates the legibility of their material, which appear to change states. Seamlessly pivoting between wood and stone, the artist marries form and medium, highlighting each material’s intrinsic DNA. Speaking on his practice, Allen says, "The sculptures are often in the act of doing something: They are going away, or leaving, or interacting with something invisible. Even though they seem static as objects, they are not static in my mind. In my mind they are part of a much larger universe.”
Allen’s artistic trajectory has seen him progress from humble origins, selling hand-carved miniatures on the streets of Soho, New York, to his breakthrough inclusion in the 2014 Whitney Biennial. Allen will represent the United States of America in the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2026 and his first solo exhibition with Perrotin will open in Paris in October 2026.
Solo exhibitions that Alma Allen has participated in include Nunca Solo at Museo Anahuacalli, Mexico City, Mexico (2023); Not Yet Titled at Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium (2023); Masa at Rockefeller Center, New York, USA (2022); Alma Allen at Van Buuren Museum & Gardens, Brussels, Belgium (2021) and In Conversation: Alma Allen & JB Blunk at Palm Springs Art Museum (2018) which travelled to Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, USA (2019). Allen’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Palm Springs Art Museum in California.
solo shows
2026
Alma Allen: Call Me the Breeze, United States Pavilion, the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy (upcoming)
Alma Allen, Perrotin Paris, France (upcoming)
2025
Alma Allen on Park Avenue, organised by The Sculpture Committee of The Fund for Park Avenue and NYC Art in the Parks, New York, NY
2024
Alma Allen, Kasmin, New York, NY
2023
Alma Allen: Nunca Solo, Museo Anahuacalli, Mexico City, Mexico
Some Eyes, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
Not Yet Titled, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium
Alma Allen, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
2022
Not Yet Titled, Rockefeller Center, New York, NY
Poco Útil, AGO Projects, Mexico City, Mexico
Archipelago, Archipelago, Germantown, NY
2021
Alma Allen, Van Buuren Museum & Gardens, Brussels, Belgium
Alma Allen, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, Belgium
Alma Allen, Kasmin Sculpture Garden, New York, NY
2020
Alma Allen, Kasmin, New York, NY
2019
Alma Allen, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
2018-2019
In Conversation: Alma Allen & J.B. Blunk, Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA; traveled to Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV
2016
Alma Allen, Blum & Poe, New York, NY
Alma Allen, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL
2015
Alma Allen, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
2009
Hoodoos by Alma Allen, Play Mountain, Tokyo, Japan
2008
Sucking the Universe, Anthony Greaney Gallery, Boston, MA
group shows
2025
Once The Block Is Carved, There Will Be Names, curated by Liam Everett and Jonathan Griffin, Galerie Greta Meert, Brussels, Belgium
I Am The I Am: An Exhibition of the Sublime, curated by Danny Moynihan, Palo Gallery, New York, NY
Volume 2, MASA and Luhring Augustine, Mexico City, Mexico
2024
The Moss Room, MANITOGA / The Russel Wright Design Center, Garrison, NY
Grace Under Fire, organized by Library Street Collective and The Bunker Artspace, The Shepherd, Detroit, MI
ASSEMBLY 3, Assembly, Monticello, NY
Mother Lode: Material and Memory, James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY
From Dreams You Wake Up, Nordenhake, Mexico City, Mexico
2023
Eternal Medium: Seeing the World in Stone, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Linhas Tortas, curated by Diana Campbell, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
Shokakko, TheMerode, Brussels, Belgium, East Hampton, NY
A Summer Arrangement: Object & Thing at LongHouse, East Hampton, NY
2022
Frieze Projects, Frieze, Los Angeles, CA
GODHEAD – Idols in the time of crisis, Lustwarande, Tilburg, The Netherlands
All Season Sanctuary, Mendes Wood DM, Retranchement, The Netherlands
Intervención/Intersección, MASA, Rockefeller Center, New York, NY
Eureka! Creativity in the Golden State, California Artists at the Governor's Mansion, Governor's Mansion, Sacaramento, CA
2021
Days of Inertia, Mendes Wood DM at D’Ouwe Kerke, Retranchement, The Netherlands
Between the Earth and Sky, Kasmin, New York, NY
At The Luss House, Blum & Poe, Mendes Wood DM, and Object & Thing, The Gerald Luss House, Ossining, NY
2020
5,471 miles, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
At The Noyes House, Blum & Poe, Mendes Wood DM, and Object & Thing, The Eliot Noyes House, New Canaan, CT
2019
Collective/Collectible, MASA, Mexico City, Mexico
2018
Handheld, organized by Elizabeth Essner, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT
2017
HILL PEOPLE, curated by Benjamin Godsill, Performance Ski, Aspen, CO
2016
Gold Rush, de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA
First Hand: Architects, Artists, and Designers from the L.J. Cella Collection, Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA
2015
Small Sculpture, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL
2014
Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
2012
Function Dysfunction, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
public collections
EKARD Collection, Wassenaar, The Netherlands
Fondation Thalie, Brussels, Belgium
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA
Villa Santo Sospir, Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat, France
Exhibition Catalogues and Monographs
2024
Niño de Rivera, Karla, Mimi Zeiger and Mauricio Rocha. Alma Allen: Nunca Solo. New York: Kasmin Books, 2024.
2020
Adamson, Glenn and Douglas Fogle. Alma Allen. New York: Rizzoli Electa, 2020.
2019
Hodge, Brooke, ed. Alma Allen & JB Blunk: In Conversation. New York: August Editions, 2019.
2018
Williamson, Leslie. Interior Portraits: At Home With Cultural Pioneers and Creative Mavericks. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2018, pp. 18-39.
2014
Comer, Stuart, Anthony Elms, and Michelle Grabner. Whitney Biennial 2014. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2014.
SELECTED ARTICLES & REVIEWS
2025
- Small, Zachary. “Alma Allen, American Sculptor, Is Selected for Venice Biennial.” New York Times, November 24, 2025.
-Yerebakan, Osman Can. "This Season, Bronze Statues Grow Among Park Avenue's Tulips." Elle Decor, May 2, 2025.
-Urist, Jacoba. "Art: Alma Allen.” Galerie Magazine, March 2025, pp. 137.
2024
-Urist, Jacoba. "The new Bronze Age: three artists embracing metalwork at Art Basel Miami Beach." Art Basel Magazine, November 5, 2024.
- Snyder, Michael. “Alma Allen: The Room to Rock.” Upstate Diary, Issue 18, October 2024.
-Roberts, Phoebe. “At Kasmin, Sculptor Alma Allen Brings the Ancient Realm Into Manhattan.” Cultured, June 21, 2024.
2023
- Gómez-Upegui, Salomé. “A Whirlwind Tour Through Mexico City’s Rich Arts Scene.” Vogue, October 25, 2023.
-”Alma Allen at Blum & Poe, Los Angeles,” Mousse, February 18, 2023.
- Yohannes, Neyat. “10 Must-See Gallery Shows during L.A. Art Week.” Artsy.net, February 13, 2023.
-“Featured Artist: Alma Allen,” Los Angeles Review of Books, February 2023.
-Stoclet, Natalie. “The A To Z Of Mexico City Art Week 2023.” Forbes, January 30, 2023.
- Zappas, Lindsey Preston. “Top 3 This Week.” Art Insider, KCRW, January 2023.
-Larsen, Christian. “Of Hieroglyphs, Petroglyphs and Mexican Churches.” TL Magazine, January 11, 2023.
2022
-Ozer, Samantha. “‘Intervención/Intersección’ Brings Mexican Art Back to Rockefeller Center.” Frieze.com, June 7, 2022.
-Baumgardner, Julie. “Mexican Artists and Designers Take Over Rockefeller Center.” Hyperallergic, May 24, 2022.
-Pou, Cecilia. “Seven Artists Who Took Their Careers to the Next Level.” Cultured, January 3, 2022.
2021
-Herriman, Kat. “Alma Allen Strikes a High Note at Kasmin.” Cultured, June 24, 2021.
-Lloyd-Smith, Harriet. “Alma Allen’s Biomorphic Sculptures Have Minds of Their Own.” Wallpaper, June 14, 2021.
2020
-Goodman, Jonathan. “Alma Allen.” Brooklyn Rail, February 2020.
-Keh, Pei-ru. “Alma Allen Reaches Great New Heights in New York Exhibition.” Wallpaper, January 27, 2020.
-Medford, Sarah. "The Idiosyncratic Work of Sculptor Alma Allen." Wall Street Journal, January 15, 2020. -Singer, Fanny. "Artist Alma Allen’s Story Is Wilder Than Fiction. Here’s How He Went From Whittling Sticks in the Utah Desert to a Splashy Solo Show in Chelsea." Artnet News, January 31, 2020.
2019
-Martinez, Christina Catherine. “Alma Allen at Blum & Poe Los Angeles.” Artforum, vol. 58, no. 3, November 2019, pp. 218-19.
-Preston-Zappas, Lindsay. "The 'Biomorphic Sculptures' of Alma Allen." KCRW, August 7, 2019. -“Richard Telles Fine Arts in Los Angeles Closes, Kasmin Now Represents Alma Allen, and More.” Artforum.com, November 1, 2019.
2018
-Chandler, Elizabeth Khuri. "The Outsider." C Magazine, May 2018, pp. 79-80.
- “Andy Warhol, J.B. Blunk and Alma Allen,” Art Talk, KCRW, March 23, 2018.
-Jansen, Charlotte. “A ‘Blind Date’ Between Two Californian Artists Reveals Surprising Shared
Sensibilities.” Wallpaper, February 4, 2018.
-Rus, Mayer. “Palm Springs Art Museum Spotlights Alma Allen and J.B. Blunk.” Architectural Digest, February 2, 2018.
-Tran, Khanh T.L. “Master Class.” LALA Magazine, Spring 2018, pp. 82-83.
2017
-DeLand, Lauren. “Exhibition Reviews: Alma Allen at Shane Campbell.” Art in America, February 2017, pp. 103-104.
2015
-Berardini, Andrew. "Alma Allen." Artforum.com, January 19, 2015.
-Browne, Alix. "Alma Allen Has Come a Long Way." W Magazine, January 12, 2015. -Griffin, Jonathan. "The Quiet Life: Artists and the Freedom of the Desert." Frieze, January-February 2015, pp. 11.
-Haskell, Rob. "Earthly Delights." Architectural Digest, March 2015, pp. 56.
-Miranda, Carolina. "Alma Allen's Abstract Sculptures Channel Nature's Power at Blum & Poe." Los Angeles Times, January 16, 2015.
-Williams, Maxwell. "The Road Less Traveled." Cultured, February-March 2015, pp. 88. -Williamson, Leslie. "A Photographer's 48-Hour Art and Design Tour Through the California Desert." Artsy.com, February 17, 2015.
2014
-Lacayo, Richard. “5 Best Works at the Whitney Biennial.” Time Magazine, March 31, 2014.
-Tyrnauer, Matt. “Diamond in the Rough.” T: The New York Times Magazine, April 11, 2014.
2012
-Okamoto, Hitoshi. “Interview 02: Alma Allen.” Casa Brutus, March 2012, pp. 76-77.
