Allan Banford

Allan Banford’s artworks respond directly to the surrounding environment of everyday experiences, unnoticed instances that come alive by his “Laceration” technique, de-constructing the subject to the extent that the meaning is shape-shifted, creating an abstract interpretation that challenges perception and perspective.

His art follows the concept of constant creative evolution, identifying the boundaries between consciousness and reality his creations capture movements, emotions, portraits and, figures revealing an inseparable relationship between dimension and space, this conceptual approach produces unique multi-layered texturised artworks.

Scroll down for more information and links.Allan Banford

Allan Banford

Allan Banford is a visual artist who produces abstract paintings, digital art, installations and electronic music productions. His art follows the concept of constant creative evolution, identifying the boundaries between consciousness and reality his creations capture movements, emotions, portraits and, figures revealing an inseparable relationship between dimension and space, this conceptual approach produces unique multi-layered texturized artworks.

Allan Banford artworks respond directly to the surrounding environment of everyday experiences and visual representations, often these framed instances go unnoticed at glance but they come alive by his laceration technique, deconstructing the subject to the extent that the meaning is shapeshifted, creating an abstract interpretation, challenging perception and perspective, completed by his rules and omissions, acceptance and refusals.

The abstract conceptualization and digital art of Allan Banford’s art have been portrayed as “一期一会 / Ichi-go Ichi-e” / “for this time only, and once in a lifetime” treasuring the unrepeatable nature of the Minkowski spacetime moment theory. His work has been featured as an alternative way of painting by Ta_Kung_Pao the oldest active Chinese language newspaper in “The People’s Republic of China”.

Since Allan Banford was five years old, he painted and drew endlessly. He drew everywhere and on everything, including on top of paintings hung in his home, from abstract landscapes to flowers. This process of recreating art on almost any surface he could get his young hands on was not only fun, but it was a journey of discovery to understand how a painting could ignite different feelings. His artistic additions improved some of the artworks he selected as part of his home refurbishment programme until he painted a decorative addition on his mum’s graduation portrait; that was the end of painting around the house. Although his mischievous creativity resulted in a ban from touching anything framed on the walls, he realised that he could preserve his ideas on a canvas and keep it forever.

As a teenager, he was very interested in graphic design and technology. Learning how to use photoshop and illustrator was the base of his graphical foundations, alongside extended research about artistic ideologies from different fields, which continued fueling his creative self-education. However, this didn’t fully satisfy his expectations, so he immersed himself in mixing, writing and producing electronic music to voice his creativity and point of view. Starting as a DJ, constructing sets from building blocks of tech-house, techno-influenced by Jeff Mills, Carl Cox, and Richie Hawtin, Allan’s passion for music and his intuitive ability to put tracks together earned his reputation for consistently delivering exuberant live performances full of energy and passion. As time advanced, his unique sound brought him to perform extensively worldwide, and he set up his first recording studio in Kensington, London, UK. Allan set about developing one of the most innovative sounds on the market called Electro Techno and experimental Electronica.

His debut EP “Essential Elements”, released by the Swedish Label SLS records, respected worldwide thanks to the support of Jeff Mills in his DVD “The Exhibitionist”, was closely followed by a succession of top quality productions, including “Best of British”, released on Carl Cox’s label Intec Records. The demand for his productions pushed Allan to be the founder of Evolved Records. This label was for established artists interested in experimenting with new genres; with Evopro Recordings, for promoting new talent and NB Records exclusively for Allan’s audiovisual productions. He was captivated by the whole process of sampling, composing, editing, mastering, producing and performing live. Music gave him the foundation to learn how to communicate his ideas to bigger audiences, and, after a few years of producing and playing music worldwide, he pursued a self-taught parallel career as an artist in fine art and digital art. His design, music and fine art qualifications didn’t really point him in a direction or self-discovery to create a unique and identifiable style.

Constant self-education delved deep into the lives and characteristics of his artistic references such as William Turner, Francis Bacon, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, On Kawara and Gerhard Richter, to mention a few. These creative masters helped him to develop a more coherent conceptualisation to connect deeply with his personality, which is reflected in his artworks as they respond directly to the surrounding environment of everyday experiences. Unnoticed instances come alive by his “Laceration” technique, de-constructing the subject to the extent that the meaning is shape-shifted, creating an abstract interpretation that challenges perception and perspective. His art follows the concept of constant creative evolution, identifying the boundaries between consciousness and reality; his creations capture movements, emotions, portraits and, figures revealing an inseparable relationship between dimension and space. This conceptual approach produces unique multi-layered texturised artworks.

The abstract conceptualisation of Allan Banford’s art has been portrayed as 一期一会 “Ichi-go Ichi-e”/ “for this time only, and once in a lifetime”, treasuring the unrepeatable nature of the spacetime theory. His legacy will help future generations understand how important it is to believe in ourselves as individuals and as a species. Banford’s career as an artist has been a constant evolution, the transition from music to art was a crucial moment in his creative journey, leading to several solo exhibitions across America, South America, Europe and Asia and several awards including the World Citizen Artists Award with the artwork “Golden Peace”, commemorating Nelson Mandela’s anniversary.

The most essential tools in Allan’s studio are music and light. Apart from brushes, knives and wood panels, his methods and materials are constantly experimental, and he rarely executes the same instruments within a series. His primary medium is acrylic due to its versatility and efficiency, however, you will also find mixed media artworks with many diversifications of unconventional elements such as wax, hair, Chinese ink, or tape. Allan predominantly paints on wood due to the organic texture and character, which is hard to achieve from stretched canvas, but he has also mastered canvas and board.

The only scripted element of his creative process is colour, no more than three tonalities, without any specific structure, sketches or test runs. Once he begins painting and defines the concept, it becomes only a matter of realising when to stop. His art is noticeable for the opposite ends of the colour spectrum, following the principles of the golden ratio to preserve harmony. He works in various styles, shifting from the figurative to the abstract to the entirely digital. His artworks have roots in the tradition of European figurative expressionism; it shows in his work that he is in tune with his environment, and every new experience, discovery or travel opportunity provides him with the information to constantly improve his style. The strategy of distancing himself from social media influences or trends that segment and categorise creativity based on popularity has been the key to materialising his subconscious visually. He is one of the first notable none traditional Western artists to make a career from his global influences.

Fine Art

Perspective Scenarios

Perspective: 1350–1400; Middle English < Medieval Latin perspectīva (ars) optical (science), perspectīvum optical glass, past participle stem of perspicere to look at closely (see per-, inspect) + -īvus -ive.

Scenario: 1875–80; < Italian < Latin scēnārium. See scene, -ary.

The Perspective Scenarios series of Allan Banford represents three-dimensional environments portrayed two-dimensionally depicting; the spatial relationships of instances and characters, describing actions, movements and scenes from the past, present or future, this series embarks the viewer into a personal journey of subconscious interpretations.

The series also features the artwork “The Lonely Star” sold for twenty-five thousand Bitcoin in 2013, making it the most expensive work of art ever sold on the market in cryptocurrency.

Organic Surroundings

Organic: 1350–1400; Middle English: pertaining to an organ of the body < Latin organicus by or employing a mechanical device, instrumental < Greek organikós equivalent to órgan(on) organ + -ikos -ic.

Surroundings: 1400–50; late Middle English: inundation; see surround, -ing1, -ing2.

The Organic Surroundings series of Allan Banford conceptualizes elements, environments and scenarios, relating to or derived from living matter or chemical compounds that formerly comprised their existence, including all other compounds of carbon or derived from living organisms surrounding everything that is present in a place and that form one’s experience of being there or reality.

Geometric Splendour

Geometric: 1620–30; < Latin geōmetricus < Greek geōmetrikós, equivalent to geométr(ēs) (see geometer) + -ikos -ic.

Splendour: 1400–50; < Latin splendor, equivalent to splend(ēre) to shine + -or -or1; replacing late Middle English splendure < Anglo-French < Latin, Also especially British, splen·dour.

The Geometric Splendour series of Allan Banford presents the magnificent precision of Geometry as the branch of mathematics that studies the sizes, positions, angles and dimensions of tangible objects, our world is defined by space and spatial relationships of geometric elements around us, graphically executed imposing the pomp and grandeur of these outstanding shapes.

Mind States

Mind: 900; (noun) Middle English mynd(e), aphetic variant (see y-) of imynd, Old English gemynd memory, remembrance, mind; cognate with Gothic gamunds; akin to Latin mēns mind, Greek manía madness; (v.) Middle English minden, derivative of the noun.

States: 1175–1225; Middle English stat (noun), partly aphetic variant of estat estate, partly < Latin status condition (see status); in defs 7–11 < Latin status (rērum) state (of things) or status (reī pūblicae) state (of the republic).

The Mind States series of Allan Banford deconstructs the psychological state of someone’s cognitive processes at a certain period; the condition or character of a person’s thoughts or feelings from elaborated abstract portraits that encapsulate feelings, emotions, moods, and distinctive attitudes of the subject emotional state at a particular time.

Dynamic Abstraction

Dynamic: 1810–20; < French dynamique < Greek dynamikós, equivalent to dýnam(is) force, power + -ikos -ic.

Abstraction: 1540–50; < Late Latin abstractiōn- (stem of abstractiō) separation. See abstract, -ion.

The Dynamic Abstraction series of Allan Banford represents the constant evolution of energetic movements, conceptual abstractions formed by blending the content of a concept or an observable phenomenon, featuring aspects that are relevant to a particular subject framed without a concrete figurative nature.

Forefront Studies

Forefront: First recorded in 1425–75, forefront is from the late Middle English word forfrount, forefrount. See fore-, front.

Studies: 1250–1300; (noun) Middle English studie < Old French estudie < Latin studium, equivalent to stud(ēre) to be busy with, devote oneself to, concentrate on + -ium -ium; (v.) Middle English studien < Old French estudier < Medieval Latin studiāre, derivative of studium.

The Forefront Studies series of Allan Banford captures the position of greatest importance or prominence of the head throughout deep research of the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts to reach new visual conclusions, creating a new concept and/or the use of existing ones in a new and creative way so as to generate abstract alternatives, methodologies and understandings.

Baroque Isolation

Baroque: 1755–65; < French < Portuguese barroco, barroca irregularly shaped pearl (of obscure origin; compare Spanish berrueco, barrueco granitic crag, irregular pearl, spherical nodule), probably conflated with Medieval Latin baroco invented word for a kind of obfuscating syllogism.

Isolation: “standing detached from others of its kind,” 1740, a rendering into English of French isolé “isolated” (17c.), from Italian isolato, from Latin insulatus “made into an island,” from insula “island” (see isle (n.)). English at first used the French word (isole, also isole’d, c. 1750), then after isolate (v.) became an English word, isolated became its past participle.

The Baroque Isolation series by Allan Banford evokes the style of art originating in Italy in the early 17th century, characterized by the free and sculptural use of classical orders and ornaments with a dramatic effect, materialized subtracting the subject to a minimal environment reinforced with texture and individualism.

Equine

The Equine series by Allan Banford delivers a fascinating visual homage to the majestic horse. Creating picturesque portraits with charismatic postures and busy intense brushes, Allan Banford’s most celebrated fine art series has a special place for animal lovers.

This series feature horse portraits of energy with individual personalities enhanced by the detail and precision of the ocular cavity.

Calligraphy

The Calligraphy series by Allan Banford features the early written words that were pictorial images, indicating meaning through suggestion or imagination. The decorative handwriting or handwritten lettering of artistic writing united the spoken dialects around the world.

Allan Banford depicts this variation isolating symbols from differents languages into abstract backgrounds from his “Laceration” technique, merging the characters with vibrant environments thank enhance the individual meaning and message, the first edition of the calligraphy series features Asia.

Digital Art

Digitalism NFT

NTF A non-fungible token is a special type of cryptographic token which represents something unique; non-fungible tokens are thus not mutually interchangeable. This is in contrast to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, and many networks or utility tokens that are fungible in nature.

The Digitalism NFT series of “Digital art” is an expanded sense of contemporary art using methods of digital media.

Digital art can be purely computer-generated by algorithmic art or taken from other sources such as scanned photographs or drawings, although the term may be applied technically to art created using media modified by a computer processor such as a program, microcontroller or any electronic system capable of interpreting an input to generate a conceptual output; digitized text data and raw audio and video recordings are not usually considered digital art in themselves, but they are part of the spectrum.

Allan Banford’s digital media artworks “Digitalism NFT” are created by an algorithm developed by the artist that decodes characters or number combinations into 20 million pixels colour sequences depicted on a rectangle or square format, every single work is unique and it can only be recalled by typing the same original combination.

Vectorium

Vector: (n.) “quantity having magnitude and direction,” 1846; earlier “line joining a fixed point and a variable point,” 1704, from Latin vector “one who carries or conveys, carrier” (also “one who rides”), agent noun from past participle stem of vehere “carry, convey” (from PIE root *wegh- “to go, move, transport in a vehicle”). Related: Vectorial.

The Vectorium series by Allan Banford features objects that have both a magnitude and a direction with the segments of a directed line, the vector graphics are made up of points, lines, and curves that are based upon mathematical equations, rather than solid coloured square pixels. This means that no matter how large or small or how close you zoom in on the artwork, the lines, curves, and points remain perpetually changing, none artwork sequence is rendered twice.

Energy and Motion

The Energy and Motion series by Allan Banford features Jackson Pollock, On August 11, 1956, American painter Paul Jackson Pollock died in a car crash while under the influence of alcohol. Just 44, he had already received widespread publicity and serious recognition for the radical poured, or “drip,” technique and the unconventional types of painting technique of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a horizontal surface, enabling him to view and paint his canvases from all angles.

Allan Banford has developed an algorithm that mimics Pollock’s movement and timing, generating a continuous artwork based on energy and motion made visible, emulating memories arrested in space, based on the artwork Number 5.

Expressionism

The Expressionism series by Allan Banford features the Latvian artist Mark Rothko (1903 – 1970) Mark Rothko (/ˈrɒθkoʊ/), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (Russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, Latvian: Markuss Rotkovičs; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was an American painter of Lithuanian Jewish descent. Although Rothko himself refused to adhere to any art movement, he is generally identified as an abstract expressionist.

In 1936, Rothko began writing a book, never completed, about similarities in the art of children and the work of modern painters. According to Rothko, the work of modernists, influenced by primitive art, could be compared to that of children in that “child art transforms itself into primitivism, which is only the child producing a mimicry of himself.” In this manuscript, he observed: “Tradition of starting withdrawing in academic notion We may start with colour.” Rothko was using fields of colour in his aquarelles and city scenes.

His style was already evolving in the direction of his renowned later works. Despite this newfound exploration of colour, Rothko turned his attention to other formal and stylistic innovations, inaugurating a period of surrealist paintings influenced by mythological fables and symbols.

Rothko’s work later matured from representation and mythological subjects into rectangular fields of colour and light, culminating in his final works for the Rothko Chapel. Between his early style of primitivist and playful urban scenes, and his later style of transcendent colour fields was a long period of transition of monochromatic fields, certainly some of the most recognizable paintings produced in the 20th century.

Continuing the legacy of this remarkable artist, Allan Banford has developed an algorithm based on machine learning from over 200 painting scans from Mark Rothko’s, the artworks are generated by the system emulates the uniformity, colour composition and calm effect of Rothko’s paintings, every single piece is unique and can not be replicated.

Conceptualism

The Conceptualism series by Allan Banford features Japanese artist On Kawara. On Kawara (河原 温) was a Japanese conceptual artist who lived in New York City from 1965. He took part in many solo and group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale in 1976.

From January 4, 1966, Kawara made a long series of “Date paintings” (the Today series), which consist entirely of the date on which the painting was executed in simple white lettering set against a solid background. The date is always documented in the language and grammatical conventions of the country in which the painting is executed (i.e., “26. ÁG. 1995,” from Reykjavik, Iceland, or “13 JUIN 2006,” from Monte Carlo); Esperanto is used when the first language of a given country does not use the Roman alphabet.

The paintings, executed in Liquitex on canvas, conform to one of eight standard sizes, ranging from 8×10 inches to 61×89 inches, all horizontal in orientation. The exceptions are the three paintings, roughly five by seven feet, executed on July 16, 20 and 21, 1969 — three days when the world was riveted by the moon landing.

The dates on the paintings, hand-painted with calculated precision, are always centred on the canvas and painted white, whereas the background colours vary; the paintings from the early years tend to have bold colours, and the more recent ones tend to be darker in tone. For example, Kawara briefly used red for several months in 1967 and then returned to darker hues until 1977. Four coats of paint are carefully applied for the ground and each allowed enough time to dry before being rubbed down in preparation for subsequent coats. Eschewing stencils in favour of hand-drawn characters, Kawara skillfully renders the script, initially a sans-serif, elongated version of Gill Sans, later a quintessentially modernist Futura. Each work is carefully executed by hand. Some days he made more than one. When Kawara was unable to complete the painting on the day it was started he immediately destroyed it.

Nowhere

Nowhere (adv.) “not in any situation or state; in no place,” Old English nahwær “nowhere, not at all;” see no + where. Colloquial nowheres, with adverbial genitive, is by 1803. As a noun, “non-existent place,” 1831; “remote or inaccessible place,” 1908. Hence road to nowhere (1916); middle of nowhere (1891). Similar constructions were attempted with nowhat (“not at all,” 1650s) and nowhen (“at no time, never,” 1764), but they failed to take hold and remain nonce words. Middle English also had an adverb never-where (early 14c.).

The Nowhere series by Allan Banford features how a simple word can be interpreted in many ways. Starting with the word Nowhere from which one can write up to 77 words, placed on The largest canyon in the Solar System cutting a wide swath across the face of Mars. Named Valles Marineris, the grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometres long, spans as much as 600 kilometres across, and delves as much as 8 kilometres deep.

Installations

Digital Encounter

Public installation at Shenzhen “Silicon Valley of China.” In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Futian District Government and the Huaqiangbei international cultural industry fair.

Located in the centre of Huaqiang Allan Banford’s “digital encounter” Installation features his algorithm Digitalism which creates 20 million pixels sequences based on any typo or number character combination, shown in a 3x3x3 cubic meter LED panels right in front of the SEG Building, a historical city landmark.

The on-site digital imagery and live electronic music culminated in a phenomenal sensory feast. It also spoke directly to the turbulent history of the street and the young city which came into existence and made a name in the world only since 1979.

Philantropy

Lovexpress Foundation

Established in 2015, LoveXpress Foundation is a charitable organization with the goal of helping autistic children and their families with this lifelong, mental condition that affects how a person communicates with and relates to other people, and how they experience the world around them.

Allan Banford sport this ideology by donating a custom artwork portraying the ethos of the charity organization and his powerful message, auctioned and sold by the Japanese auction house Tokyo Chuo Auction.

Collaborations

Royal Mail

The Penny Black was the world’s first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in Great Britain on 1 May 1840 but was not valid for use until 6 May. It features a profile of Queen Victoria.

In 1837, British postal rates were high, complex and anomalous. To simplify matters, Sir Rowland Hill proposed an adhesive stamp to indicate pre-payment of postage. At the time it was normal for the recipient to pay postage on delivery, charged by the sheet, and on distance travelled. By contrast, the Penny Black allowed letters of up to 1⁄2 ounce (14 grams) to be delivered at a flat rate of one penny, regardless of distance.

Allan Banford features 20 limited editions sheets of 10 units signed and numbered portraiting individual artworks by the artist next to the iconic Penny Black stamp, printed by the Royal Mail.

Les Ballerines

D’auchel is the epitome of true luxury, a Maison and atelier that brings centuries of French craftsmanship to exquisite leather goods, created by authentic French artisans with traditional know-how and made with the finest leathers, each handbag is meticulously hand-stitched, flawlessly detailed, and a masterpiece of art and quintessential luxury.

Allan Banford’s collaboration with D’auchel features a collection of 24 hand-painted limited edition handbags, crafted and assembled in France, inspired by the movement and dynamism of the ballet ballerinas.

Amekura

Limited edition luxury goods store Amekura features 12 exclusive unique designs, screen printed and handcrafted in France by Allan Banford, the collection only manufacture 5 prints per design on 90cm x 90cm, 116mm, 100% French Silk.

Amekura has been created thanks to the passion of ART and FASHION, an online platform supporting individuality from exclusive limited-edition luxury goods, merging artists, curators, and customers in one ever-expanding creative community, discovering artworks and designs that rise above the predictable alongside unique collaborations with internationally-renowned brands and ateliers.

Evolved Records

Allan Banford exclusive collaboration with Evolved Records features 40 original tracks composed, mastered, and developed at Hercules Studios in London.

The selection captures Allan’s electronic music influences, experimenting with the inseparable relationship between sound and perception, producing a unique rhythmical environment.

Solo Exhibitions
  • #legend Collaboration – Artiverse Virtual Reality NFT – Global.
  • Zentai – Artiverse Virtual Reality NFT – Global.
  • Amsterdam – Fusion NFT – Global.
  • Tai Kwun – Centre for Heritage and Arts – Hong Kong.
  • Digitalism – NFT – Global.
  • AXA S.A – Hong Kong.
  • Dream Runs – Ritz Carlton – SZ  – China.
  • Digital Rebirth – Shibuya – Tokyo – Japan.
  • Love – Love Express Foundation – Hong Kong.
  • Mind States – Ai M50 Gallery – SH – China.
  • Digital Art Festival – Public Exhibition SZ – China.
  • Digital Encounter – Solo Exhibition SZ – China.
  • Les Ballerines – D’auchel collaboration – HK/France.
  • Nuovo Collection – Casa FENDI – Hong Kong.
  • Troxler – OKUA – Tokyo – Osaka – Japan.
  • Artist Talk – Lot88 – Hong Kong.
  • Longines Masters – Hong Kong.
  • Matter of time Exhibition ? M&S ? Hong Kong.
  • Hong Kong Jockey Club – Racing Club – Hong Kong.
  • Nerve Royal Mail stamp – We gallery – SZ – China.
  • King of Second Chances – Library – London.
  • The Prophet and his Court – SkyArts – London.
  • A Series – Supreme Gallery.
  • The Prophet and his Court – Milroys – London.
  • A Series – Glasscade Gallery – Stockholm.
  • Rhetorical Series –  The Vault – London.
  • Rhetorical Series – Holland Park Av – London.
  • Mona Flat – Degree Art – London.
  • Mona Flat – Solo Exhibition at the Mansion – London.
  • Mona Flat – Andy Warhol Absolut-exchange – London.
  • Exhibbit – Solo Virtual Exhibition – Global.

 

 

Group Exhibitions
  • Fabric Virtual Exhibition – Artgence – Paris – France.
  • Design Shanghai – China.
  • Barcu – X-Espacio – Colombia.
  • The Essential – Loosen Art – Rome – Italy.
  • Art San Diego – X-Espacio – United States.
  • Asia Contemporary – Hong Kong.
  • British contemporary Artist – M&S – Hong Kong.
  • Elizabeth – Spring Saloon Exhibition – London.
  • Velvenoir – Virtual Dimensional Luxury – Austria.
  • Perspectice Scenarios – Halcyon Gallery – London.
Installations
  • Artificial – Paris – France.
  • Digital Encounter – SZ – China.

Auctions

  • Zentai – Crypto.com – HK – Global.
  • Zentai – Opensea – US ? Global.
  • Artnet – Allan Banford – UK – US – Germany.
  • Barnebys – Allan Banford – Stockholm – Sweden.
  • Winter Contemporary Art 2020 – TimaxArt TimaxGlobal Ltd – New York – US.
  • Retrospective and Calligraphy series – live auctioneers – New York – US.
  • Retrospective and Calligraphy series – TimaxGlobal Ltd – London – UK.
  • Retrospective and Calligraphy series – Invaluable – United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany & Australia.
  • Retrospective One – Sotheby’s – London – UK.
Awards
  • Art Award louvre emerging artist – Paris.
  • Canonromo – Video Art Award White Box – Paris.
  • EGO – ArtSlant Showcase Winner Award – New York.
  • Mona Blue – 1st Place Absolut Art Exchange UK.
  • World Citizen Artists Award – Belgravia Gallery.
Publications
Interviews

 

Press
Discography