ALLAN GORMAN | Beyond Two-Dimensional Paintings

“I’ve always been attracted to interesting compositions, tensions, and details. For many years, I used the camera as a tool and sketchpad, always searching for abstract information in architecture and structure – where intersections meet, and light and shadow would capture my curiosity and intrigue.”
– Allan Gorman

I self-identified as an “artist” at a very early age.  I believe an experience in elementary school probably was the catalyst. 
My third-grade teacher asked the class to make a drawing.  I folded my paper into a three-by-sectioned grid, making small drawings in each box.  The teacher loved it so much that she had me take it around the school to show it off to the other teachers and students. I loved the attention and decided that I wanted to do art when I grew up.  I’m still making art but have given up on the notion of growing up.  I find that the challenge of always creating something new keeps you vital and young.
 

“I work alone, but usually with music in the background to keep me company. 
My phone is silenced, and I’m focused only on the task at hand.  The process of painting is meditative and when I’m working, nothing else matters.  It’s incredibly rewarding and addictive.”
– Allan Gorman

I’ve always been attracted to interesting compositions, tensions, and details. For many years, I used the camera as a tool and sketchpad, always searching for abstract information in architecture and structure – where intersections meet, and light and shadow would capture my curiosity and intrigue. From these photos, I’d make paintings that were pretty good but classified as “photorealistic” (although, in my definition, I was actually making abstract compositions—wrapped in the package of realism).  Now, more recently, my work has become more completely abstract, and I’m finding my inspiration from within, creating “imaginary spaces” from my heart and soul.  
In a way, these new paintings feel more “real” than a rendering of something I saw through my camera lens.
My art practice is disciplined, keeping a studio outside my home and treating it like a business.  I work alone, but usually with music in the background to keep me company.  My phone is silenced, and I’m focused only on the task at hand.  The process of painting is meditative and when I’m working, nothing else matters.  It’s incredibly rewarding and addictive.
I love all sorts of art, but of course, it’s always the titans who pioneered the language that directly relates to what we’re doing now that excites us most.  So, ab-ex artists like Sol Lewitt, Rothko, and Clyfford Still come to mind. And there are a lot of contemporary folks now that rock my boat, too. 
I love well-crafted, well-designed, aesthetically intriguing, courageous work done by artists who aren’t trying to impress us but are more interested in helping people see the world more interestingly.  Anish Kapoor, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Sean Scully.  There are so many.

Recently, I’ve been doing some minimalist works that are emotional and reminiscent of my young adult years in New York City in the 1960s.  A particular favorite is “Midnight in Harlem”.  It’s such a simple composition, but the muted shades of blue and placement of lines and shapes make me feel nostalgic, and I can almost hear a soft jazz trumpet making beautiful sounds in the wee hours over my sleeping city.  These works usually start on the computer in Photoshop.  I build up the compositions in layers, working out relationships and color themes, overlapping shapes, and adjusting transparencies. When I’m satisfied, I’ll make a color print-out that serves as a maquette reference for making the actual painting.   
I like to work with oil paint.  I feel like I can control and play with it to get the effects I want better than other mediums.  I’ve tried acrylic and feel it’s probably a better medium for my new work, but I just don’t want to spend time learning how to best use it.  I know my oil paints, so I’ll stick with them, although I want to introduce some other materials as I move forward.  A painting I’m working on now may have some elements of gold leaf, and I’d like to employ some other rich and sexy materials moving forward.

“I find that the challenge of always creating something new keeps you vital and young.”
– Allan Gorman

The newer works incorporate a lot of graphic design language, and I can see how this can be interpreted beyond just two-dimensional paintings. Maybe sculptures, murals, installations, etc. There are lots of possibilities, and I’m excited to see what the future has in store.

Allan Gorman’s art reflects the spaces we occupy, the boundaries we encounter, and our curiosity to discover more. He explores details, shadows, and intersections, both observed and imagined, to present interesting and unusual environments that invite the eye to journey through and beyond. 
Gorman’s artworks have been exhibited in numerous US and European museums, including the Arnot Art Museum, Springfield Museum of Art, Lyman Allyn Art Museum, Albany Museum of Art, The State Museum of New Jersey, and The MEAM Museum in Barcelona. 

Gorman’s artworks were also exhibited in commercial galleries, including Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts, Rehs Contemporary, Garvey|Simon NY, Novado Gallery, Nicole Longnecker Gallery, and CK Contemporary in San Francisco.
Several of Gorman’s paintings are included in “LUSTER,” a multi-venue museum exhibition of automobile and motorcycle art that toured the USA from 2018 to 2025 at institutions like The Daytona Museum of Arts and Sciences, Museum of the Rockies, Duesenberg Museum, Morris Museum of Art, Art Museum of South Texas, and The Corvette Museum. A European exhibition, “Urbes: Contemporary Landscape,” was on view at the MEAM Museum in Barcelona through January 2025.

Gorman is a two-time recipient of The New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship for Painting; resident fellowships at the Vermont Studio Center and ESKFF at Mana Contemporary; Architectural Artist of the Year from ADC’s Art Comes Alive!, the Salmagundi Award from the American Artist’s Professional League, and the Pioneer of Realism award from the International Guild of Realism. He is one of the 100 Grandmasters of Realist Art as selected by the Salon Des Beaux Arts.

Gorman’s work is part of the permanent collections of the D’Amour Museum of Arts, Art Museum of South Texas, Savoy Automobile Museum, Belskie Museum of Art, Geleria ArteLibre Collection, and the Copelouzos Family Art Museum in Athens, Greece. Gorman’s art can also be found in many corporate and private collections.

“Recently, I’ve been doing some minimalist works that are emotional and reminiscent of my young adult years in New York City in the 1960s.  A particular favorite is “Midnight in Harlem”.  It’s such a simple composition, but the muted shades of blue and placement of lines and shapes make me feel nostalgic, and I can almost hear a soft jazz trumpet making beautiful sounds in the wee hours over my sleeping city. “
– Allan Gorman

See the full article in Art Market Magazine Issue #103