.JONATHAN ALLEN
 

 

 

 

EXHIBITIONS - PERFORMANCES - PROJECTS - WRITING


2011 THE ANTI-LIBRARY, SPACE STUDIOS, LONDON
Curated by Paul Pieroni, The Anti-Library will house unread books gathered from over 150 invited contributors each asked to present a single book from their own anti-library, as well a short text outlining their selection. The project will include submissions from:
Jonathan Allen, Oliver Laric, Cally Spooner, Arnaud Desjardin, Ed Atkins, Åbäke, Jamie Shovlin, Am Nuden Da, Pieternel Vermoortel, Mike Sperlinger, Kathy Noble, Maria Fusco, Kate Owens, Gavin Everall, Ian Law, Francesco Pedraglio, Athanasios Argianas (amongst many others)

2011 A FUTURE PUMP HOUSE, LONDON
Group exhibition including Jonathan Allen, Simon Faithful, Christian Jankowski, Thomas Kilpper, Bik van der Pol, Henry VIII Wives, Richard Wentworth
29 July - 25 September 2011. [more]



2011 FORMAT - ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION, LONDON
Contributor to FORMAT, a new, 'live magazine' looking at the shapes that discourse takes. Held at the AA in a transformed version of the Gallery, it will talk about talking, show what it means to show something, and present the hidden politics of presentation [more]

2011 EXONUMIA AND THE POETICS OF MONEY, ZURICH
Lecture - Masters of Advanced Studies Programme in Scenography / Spatial Design at Zurich University of the Arts.


2011 OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE : ARTISTS REMAKE THE TAROT - FOCAL POINT GALLERY
‘Outrageous Fortune’ is a Hayward Touring exhibition, curated by Andrew Hunt, director of Focal Point Gallery, showcasing contemporary artists’ interpretations of the classic Tarot de Marseille deck of cards. Acccompanying the exhibition, a special numbered edition of 1,000 printed decks of cards will be produced, and given away to recipients nominated by the artists. Opening at Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, before touring nationally 4 July to 27 August 2011 [more]

2011 TATE-ETC MAGAZINE
MICROTATE - a response to Fischli & Weiss’s Untitled (Tate) (1992–2000)



2010 CABINET MAGAZINE - NEW YORK
'Pop Art' - the delicate art of balloon-modelling - issue no.37: BUBBLES

 


2010 THE BIG RIP-OFF! CAMDEN ART CENTRE
Live performance with magician Scott Penrose.'The Big Ripoff! gives artists license to plunder the history of financial misdemeanors and raise funds through underhand means. Money raised will provide vital funding for futre residencies and allow Camen Art Centre to continue to support artists and their work'.Curated by Sally O'Reilly.

 



2009-2010 MAGIC SHOW - HAYWARD GALLERY TOURING EXHIBITION
Co-curated 'Magic Show' Hayward Gallery Touring Exhibition with writer Sally O'Reilly, at various venues Nov 28th 2009 - Dec 19th 2010, Quad Derby, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, Tullie House, Carlisle, Chapter, Cardiff, and The Pump House Gallery, London . Participating artists: Jonathan Allen, Archive (Chris Kubik & Anne Walsh), Zoë Beloff, Ansuman Biswas & Jem Finer, Joan Brossa, Rick Buckley, Brian Catling, Center for Tactical Magic, Jackie & Denise Chapwoman, Tom Friedman, Brian Griffiths, Colin Guillemet, João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva, Susan Hiller, Alexandra Hopf, Christian Jankowski, Janice Kerbel, Annika Lundgren, Juan Muñoz, Bruce Nauman, Ian Saville, Ariel Schlesinger, Suzanne Treister and Sinta Werner.Exhibition calalogue available from [Cornerhouse][review] [review]


2009 KNIGHT'S MOVE - SPLEEN
Contributor to Spleen, the fourth edition of 'Knight's Move', a journal of artists' writings edited by David Howells and Charlie Woolley.



2009 SIRENE OPERNTHEATER, VIENNA
Nine wunderkammer-operas introduced by nine artist's collections curated by Brigitte Felderer in collaboration with Sirene OpernTheater, Vienna, with opera composed by René Clemencic.



2009 CABINET MAGAZINE - NEW YORK
'Mark of Integrity' - a short history of card-marking in issue no.33: DECEPTION

2008 LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL
The catalogue for MADE UP, the Liverpool Biennial International 08 exhibition, features content on all the artists in the exhibition, as well as texts by Lewis Biggs, Paul Domela, Pablo Helguera, Brian Hatton, Rana Dasgupta, Geoff Dyer, Jonathan Allen, Geoff Manaugh, Bruno Latour, Paul Ekman and Haruki Murakami.



2008 THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION - ART & TACTICAL MAGIC
Group exhibition at Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt June 7th - Sept 7th featuring works by Jonathan Allen [image], Marcel Breuer, Center for Tactical Magic, Erich Consemüller, Roberto Cuoghi, Claire Fontaine, Aurélien Froment, Mike Kelley, Joachim Koester, Maria Loboda, Goshka Macuga, Michele di Menna, Eduardo Navarro, Olivia Plender, ride.1, Allen Ruppersberg, Kerstin Stoll, Joanne Tatham & Tom O'Sullivan, Banks Violette and Adrian Williams. A catalogue with contributions by Lars Bang Larsen, Simon During and Chus Martínez, will be published in German and English. The exhibition is produced in collaboration with MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo, where it will be on view from September 19, 2008 to January 11, 2009[URL]



2008 THE DIRECTOR'S APARTMENT - BRITISH SCHOOL AT ROME
Group exhibition including Cian Donnelly, Prisca Thielman, Aisling Hedgecock, John Walter, Jonathan Allen[image], Antony Faroux, Gordon Burn, Jennifer Marshall, and Nadia Hebson. [image]


2007-08 KALANAG - DAVID RISLEY GALLERY
Photographic installation relating to Adolf Hitler's notorious 'minister of magic', aka Helmut Schreiber. Solo exhibition London Dec 2007 - Jan 2008 [info][review] [reviews]



2007-08 HELEN CHADWICK FELLOWSHIP - ROME/OXFORD
Arts Council England Helen Chadwick Fellow 2007-2008, at The University of Oxford and the British School at Rome [more]

2007 CABINET MAGAZINE - NEW YORK
Guest-editor issue no.26 MAGIC, and article DECEPTIONISTS AT WAR [more][review][text]


2007 ART CAR BOOT FAIR - LONDON
Sunday 8th July, Old Truman Brewery, London. Curated by Karen Ashton and Helen Hayward. Artists include Gavin Turk, Abigail Lane, Tracey Emin, Bob and Roberta Smith, Vivienne Westward, Matt Collishaw, Jessica Voorsager, Sarah Baker, Jonathan Allen[image], Ian Munroe, Stuart Semple, Antony Gross, Zoe Griffiths, and many more..


2007 CITADEL 1:FRONT ROOM/KILLING ROOM
Group exhibition David Risley Gallery, London 18 May– 1 July
'Citadel 1. Front room/Killing room exists both as a living room and as an exhibition of one. It can be viewed as an ‘Ikea-style’ showroom and a stage set, where curatorial decision making and interior design intentionally converge...'[more]


2007 DRAWING ROOM - LONDON
Drawing 2007 - Biennale fundraiser [19th April - 9th May]. Over 200 artists generously donate a one-off A4 size drawing in support of The Drawing Room programme and its non-profit activities. The drawings are exhibited for three weeks, culminating in an silent auction event which attracts over 500 people, from established to new collectors, collector groups, art curators, gallery directors and artists.


2007 DICTIONARY OF WAR - BERLIN, EDITION 4
DICTIONARY OF WAR is a collaborative platform for creating 100 concepts on the issue of war, to be invented, arranged and presented by scientists, artists, theorists and activists at four public, two-day events in Frankfurt, Munich, Graz and Berlin. The aim is to create key concepts that either play a significant role in current discussions of war, have so far been neglected, or have yet to be created.[concept]


2007 CABINET MAGAZINE - NEW YORK
SLEIGHT OF LIGHT - Commissioned article for NY-based art and culture quarterly Cabinet no.24 SHADOWS [Feb 2007]


2007 HARRY SMITH ANTHOLOGY REMIXED - ALT.GALLERY, NEWCASTLE/GLASGOW CCA
This exhibition brings together the work of 84 leading artists and musicians who have been invited to make a visual artwork in repsonse to 1 track each from the groundbreaking music release The Anthology of American Folk Music. The anthology was edited by seminal New York artist, musicologist and experimental film maker Harry Smith, and first published by Folkways in 1952. Artists include Marcus Coates, Michael Nyman, Susie Green, Graham Dolphin, Jonathan Allen, Luke Fowler, Philip Taafe, Bill Drummond, Lone Twin, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, zoviet*france, and others


2007 /seconds. ISSUE 4
/seconds. is a three-monthly online publishing project initiated and edited by Derek Horton and Peter Lewis, designed by Graham Hibbert and supported by an international editorial and advisory board of academics, artists and curators (contributor - issue 4)[info]


 2006 SINGAPORE BIENNALE
BELIEF is the theme for Singapore's first visual arts biennale. "If today's world has painfully called into question many certainties governing society, history and humankind.." More than 50% of the exhibition showcases artists from across the Asia Pacific, with artists from Latin America, Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, Europe and North America completing the full list. These are a mix of both emerging as well as established artists working across all art forms including architecture, biotechnology, drawing, installation, new media, painting, performance, photography, sculpture, sound projects and video[images] [catalogue text] [review]


 2006 ZOO ART FAIR - LONDON
Zoo Art Fair returns to London Zoo for its third year as one of the most significant international platforms for emerging contemporary art. Participating artist with David Risley Gallery [image]


2006 BLASPHEMY - BLACK DOG BOOKS
'Through an examination of a broad range of contentious imagery in art, this book questions the status of blasphemy in a world ever more divided in its views of what is acceptable, and provides an intriguing vantage point from which to view the interrelations between religion, politics and the visual arts'(featured artist)


2006 OBJECTS IN WAITING - END GALLERY, SHEFFIELD
Objects in Waiting is an exhibition of objects that were found or bought with the particular thought or intention to one day use in the making of an artwork. However, days or months or even years have passed, and still no use for these objects has been found. Perhaps the objects have gained a status whereby they have become too important to combine with anything else. Objects in Waiting, provides an opportunity for artists to unburden themselves of something which may have taunted them from a corner of the studio for years.


2006 VOLTA 02 ART FAIR - BASEL
With David Risley Gallery June 14-18th, Ultra Brag, Sudquaistrasse 55, CH-Basel


2006 SCARECROW
International group exhibition at Evangelos Averoff Museum in Metsovo, Northern Greece. "The cental motif of the exhibition, the scarecrow, acts as a celebratory emblem, a warning sign for transgressors, a reminder of reprisals...". Includes Jonathan Allen, Stefan Bruggemann, Marcus Coates, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Thomas Eller, Tom Hunter, Henry Krokatsis, Hew Locke, Rosemarie McGoldrick, Olivia Plender, Bob & Roberta Smith and others


2006 SMOKE AND MIRRORS
Smoke and Mirrors investigates the crossover between artists' film and video and traditional cinema.The four day programme references the artifice of early cinema and theatre whereby the practice of magician and filmmaker were often indistinguishable. Includes work by Georges Méliès, Pathé Frères and Edison alongside recent video works by Elizabeth McAlpine, Jonathan Allen[image], Jason Dee, Sara Fletcher & Edward Adam and Tobias Sternberg.  


2006 TOMMY ANGEL -DAVID RISLEY GALLERY
Solo exhibition January 12th-19th February 2006.[info]
19th January 6.30-8.30pm[review] [review]


2006 THE CIRCUS SHOW
11th March- 2nd April.Three Colts Gallery, London.‘The Circus Show’ is a group show inspired by Alexander Calder’s Circus and celebrating the spectacle and the crowd, play and transformation, a site of chaos and excess, of mutation and exchange in the spirit of Bakhtinian liberation, of the ‘carnivalesque’.[info]


2006 TATE BRITAIN
Taking the Tate Collection displays as inspiration, award-winning live art collective Duckie cruise the spaces and displays of Tate Britain, delving into the worlds of art and belief. From the salutary to the provocative, Duckie present performances from Chris Green, Joshua Sofaer and Tommy Angel Part of Late at Tate Britain: February 2006. KEEP THE FAITH - Friday 3rd February 2006, 18.00–22.00 [image] [image]


2006 MAGIC MAGAZINE
Feature article on Tommy Angel in Las Vegas published Magic Magazine, the world's widest distribution magic monthy publication.[text]


2005 VARIETY
The De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea re-opens in late summer 2005 after major refurbishment with VARIETY, a three month programme of events that 'explores how contemporary artists have not only been influenced by the variety genre, but have a genuine desire to be part of it, to reconfigure, reinterpret and transform it.' Artists include Jonathan Allen [images], Ian Breakwell, Tommy Cooper, Marcel Duchamp, Rose English, Daria Martin, Aura Satz, Cindy Sherman, Mark Wallinger, Boyd Webb, Will Wegman, and others.


2004-6 TOMMY ANGEL
Tommy Angel is an ongoing heterogeneous visual art project that centers on the critical parody of a fictitious ‘gospel magician’, that is, a fundamentalist Christian who evanglises using the medium of conjuring and magic. Described as 'Billy Graham meeting David Copperfield via Donald Rumsfeld', Tommy Angel has been deploying a heady mix of Christian evangelism and glitzy magic showmanship to art and cabaret audiences alike since 2001.[more text]. He has recently performed for the opening of the Hayward Gallery's Eyes, Lies and Illusions, ZOO Art Fair, Tate Britain, and Singapore Biennale [more] in 2006. Tommy Angel was supported by Arts Council England and Artsadmin.[image] [www.tommyangel.net]


2004 NON HUMAN
Group exhibition at David Risley Gallery, London.‘Portraits are the evidence of existence. They immortalise a life lived, providing an indication of the stature of the sitter, a symbol of power, position and possession, real or desired. What, then, can a portrait of a non-human, an outsider, an alien, an aberration mean?' Artist include Jonathan Allen [image],George Condo, Helen Frik, Peter Jones, John Stezaker.


2004 CENTREFOLD SCRAPBOOK
 Centrefold Scrapbook is a limited-production collection of works by London artists, organised by artists Reza Aramesh and Tina Spear.
Scrapbook 2 contributors are: Shahin Afrassiabi, Jonathan Allen, Reza Aramesh, Sarah Baker,James Barrett & Robin Forster, Diann Bauer, JJ Charlesworth, Henry Coleman, Ilya Gridneff, Mustafa Hulusi,Lynne Marsh,Jo Mitchell, Paul Noble, Pil & Galia Collectiv, David Risley, Jamie Robinson, Giles Round, Anna Schori, Tina Spear, Holly Walsh. Scrapbook 2 launched at Redux Gallery.[url] So You're Afraid of What? was a Centrefold gallery event at REDUX Gallery, London, in October 2004[url]. Artists included Jonathan Allen [image], Reza Aramesh,Sarah Baker, Diann Bauer, Lali Chetwynd,Doug Fishbone, HK119, Andy Ming-Yen Hsu,Seb Patane, Giles Round, John Russell,Tina Spear and Francis Upritchard.


2004 MESMER
'Scrutiny, Seduction and Sleight of Hand' Group exhibition at temporarycontemporary (London) curated by Antony Gross. How does the gaze of the artist in what they see and what they make become the gaze of the viewer as the artwork enters their world? Mesmer looks at the obsessive and hypnotic gaze and how it is central to both the production and reception of an artwork. Works in video (Peter Fillingham, Paul O’Neill), animation (Anthony Gross, Laurie Hill), neon (Jonathan Allen [image], Howard Dyke), installation (Luke Oxley, Seb Patane, Giles Round, Lindsay Seers, Mark Titchner, Jen Wu) drawing (Diann Bauer) and painting (Ian Dawson, David Lock, Cedar Lewisohn)


2004 CONTEMPORARY MAGAZINE
'GOSPEL MAGIC - Jonathan Allen Opens Up God's Box Of Tricks'.
Article commissioned for CONTEMPORARY magazine TRIVIA section, edited by Sally O'Reilly.


2002 CON ART
'Con Art: Magic/Object/Action surveys contemporary Western art as it relates to one of the basic principles found in magic; sleight of hand or conjuring. The works demonstrate the ways in which art and magic share a similar goal of 'cunning and conning' while casting a critical glance at everyday reality. The exhibition tests out the ways in which the rhetoric and imagery of conjuring offer a critique of representation and a model for art production and consumption.' Artists include: Jonathan Allen [image], Anna & Bernhard Blume, Sarah Charlesworth, Christian Jankowski, Ingeborg Luscher, Simon Patterson, Keith Tyson, Mark Wallinger, Aura Satz. Con Art was inititated by Jonathan Allen with American curator Helen Varola and SITE Gallery director Carol Maund. [more] [more] [catalogue] [performance]

 

1998 SECOND TRUTHS
Second Truths was a Photo98 commission, and solo exhibition at Site Gallery, Sheffield. Through a series of eight lenticular photographs, which 'switch' when viewed from side to side, Second Truths explores the museum space as an unfixed and volatile container of cultural meaning. Museums included The Freud Museum [image], The Darwin Museum, Harrow School Fourth Form Room, The Stephen's Ink Museum, Barcelona Perfume Museum, The Victoria & Albert Mseum, Bovingdon Tank Museum [image], and The Old Operating Theatre Museum.


1998 STONE TROUPERS
Stone Troupers was a Hypertribes commission with film maker Steve Hawley for Lovebytes digital arts festival in Sheffield. 'For six weeks, four tiny neo-classical heads high on a building in the city centre were video-animated using the faces of Sheffield's shifting populations...'
[image] [video]


CURRICULUM VITAE/IMAGES/TEXTS
Past Exhibitions, Reviews and Images


LINKS
www.davidrisleygallery.com
www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk
www.re-title.com
www.tommyangel.net
www.cabinetmagazine.org
www.vvork.com


CONTACT
 Jonathan Allen