Dan Mitchell Allison

Born in Houston, Texas in 1953, the printmaker and painter continues to live and work there, while garnering attention throughout the United States, as well as overseas. Allison's prints are included in major museum and private collections throughout the world, including the U.S., Europe and Asia. He has gained renown for his innovative painting with the surface subtleties of printmaking and has established an international reputation for printmaking that places him in league with some of the most important late 20th century artists to have worked in the print medium. Allison was the recipient of the prestigious 1987 Grand Prix award for the 17th Biennial of Graphic Art sponsored by the Ljubljana Museum of Modern Art in the former Republic of Yugoslavia. The artist's award-winning collagraphic triptych, "Between Heaven and Earth," was selected from more than 1800 entries submitted from 57 countries. Allison first made his mark on the art world in the late 1970's with his instantly recognizable aquatint etchings, created through a revolutionary, one-plate, three-color printmaking process. The artist earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis on printmaking from the Sam Houston University in 1978. Allison's early, largely autobiographical etchings were notable for their cartoon-like style and exuberant, luminous hues, demonstrating a depth, intensity and clarity of color never before accomplished using traditional aquatint processes. Heavily influenced by religious and regional iconography of Mexico and South Texas, as well as the dreamlike surrealism of French painter and printmaker Marc Chagall, Allison's etchings began to evolve dramatically in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Most recently, Allison has harnessed technology for printmaking purposes, using imagery created from three-dimensional, computer-scanned objects and assemblages as subjects, which continues to be intimately linked to the artist's concern with universal themes.