Allan Rosenfield received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Tyler School of Art of Temple University, Philadelphia which included a year of study in Italy. He later obtained his Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1981-83, Allan was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship which was fulfilled in painting and studying calligraphic art in Japan. In 1987, he received a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Since 1985, his main body of work has …
Allan Rosenfield received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Tyler School of Art of Temple University, Philadelphia which included a year of study in Italy. He later obtained his Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1981-83, Allan was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship which was fulfilled in painting and studying calligraphic art in Japan. In 1987, he received a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Since 1985, his main body of work has consisted of a unique concept that features large scale, multi-sided works on canvas that can be rearranged into many configurations with the same painting. The unstretched, flexible format of these works is both challenging and satisfying to the artist and viewer. Allan sees the double-sided, reversible concept as a metaphor for life, reality, and human nature. Some is visible, much is concealed; and all is constantly changing. "I strive for a different general mood or atmosphere in each painting, such as tragic, festive, or mysterious. Sometimes these moods can be literally the reverse of each other on the two-sided canvas".
The vibrant hues of the free, unframed canvas enhance everything in the room with its flowing form, seeming to be alive. Throughout the day, light and shadow interplay to bring new dimensions to the color, design and folds. His technique, described as "Inside/Out" has both sides of the untreated canvas painted in sometimes complementary, often dissimilar, patterns. The paints from each side bleed through the canvas resulting in an ethereal subtlety behind the bold stripes and patterns. The folded designs resemble kimonos, serapes, hides or prayer shawls depending on the viewers' cultural point of reference.
Allan's other creative outlets are works on paper that resemble ancient scrolls, presenting hieroglyphics of sages, astronomers, and shamans; repositories of ancient knowledge and lore. Allan draws inspiration from oriental calligraphy, petroglyphs, and the art of the insane. Allan's works hang in many private, corporate, and public collections in the United States, Switzerland, Italy, Japan and Israel.