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Artist Statement

Roger Allen Self Portrait
Roger Allen Artist Statement

I’m a self-taught artist tutored by a master of highly suspect painting skills. I have enjoyed looking at art for most of my life and have been inspired and influenced by many sources: native and tribal artists, cubists, surrealists, abstract expressionists, folk art, art brut and the geniuses that work out of places like Creative Clay.

Much of my work attempts to portray random thoughts that frequently but erratically wander through my head. I’m also a devotee of badly rhymed poetry. Often, I’m struck by the irony of a situation and even more frequently, I’m taken by the rampant absurdity that seems to permeate much of our life on this planet.

All of my work involves a conversation between myself, the medium I’m working in (usually acrylics) and the painting. Sometimes these chats take the form of a genteel collegial discussion but more often, they devolve into screaming hissy fits. Whatever the form of the conversation, the final result is always the same: the painting never ends up as planned.