Tim Allen: Tracing Contour

Tracing Contour invites viewers to embark on a sensory journey through landscape, exploring the intimate connection between touch and perception. Inspired by the tactile experiences of navigating wilderness, the exhibition delves into the profound ways in which touch shapes our understanding of the world around us.

The act of tracing contours, serves as a gateway to presence and connection, creating a sensory dialogue between the self and the environment, as a means of grounding oneself in the moment while allowing the mind to wander freely. Through touch, the landscape ceases to be merely a visual spectacle; it becomes tangible, textured, and alive.

In the canyons of the Blue Mountains, narrow passages and the echo of water challenge assumptions about perspective and order, requiring a delicate balance of movement and touch to feel safe and secure. Here, touch is not just a sensory experience but a means of survival, a way of making sense of the seemingly chaotic terrain.

Tim Allen’s creative journey, spanning over three decades of landscape painting, reflects a continuous oscillation between memory and observation, plein air practice, and studio reflection. Through this rich tapestry of experience, he finds freedom in navigating between modes of practice, allowing for a fluid interchange of remembered landscapes and observed realities.

In Tracing Contour, viewers are invited to embark on a multi-sensory exploration of landscapes, both external and internal, tactile and imagined. Through a paradoxical interplay of spontaneity and structure, expression and description, each brushstroke becomes a gesture laden with memory, emotion, and movement as Allen invites viewers to reflect on the infinite possibilities of paint as a medium of expression.

Tim Allen is the recipient of the Paddington Art Prize (2017) and the Kedumba Drawing Award (2016) and has been a finalist in numerous other awards, including, the King’s School Art Prize (2021, 2018), Muswellbrook Art Prize (2020), Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award, JADA (2020), Tattersall’s Landscape Prize (2019, 2018), Dobell Prize (2012, 2009, 2006) and the Wynne Prize (2007). His work is held in numerous private and public collections including the Supreme Court of Victoria, Allens Arthur Robinson and the Bundanon Trust Collection.