Martin Allen
b. 1970, Sunderland, UK
Since reading E. H. Gombrich's book 'Art and Illusion', Martin has been looking for a way to place images of plants firmly within fine art whilst retaining some of the traditional skills of botanical art; in particular, detail, and accuracy of colour and form. His 'Seeing Potential' series looked at the excitement and anticipation of potential through images of enlarged flower and leaf buds. Introduction of areas of soft focus and the often unfamiliar view of a common subject give the paintings an unusually arresting ambiguity.
Martin is an RHS Gold Medallist, Emeritus Fellow of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society, in the collection of the Hunt Institute and Shirley Sherwood, and also teaches and writes about botanical art. He has a degree in Environmental Horticulture and works in native plant conservation in the UK.