AMBROSINE ALLEN
Ambrosine Allen was born in 1982, in Suffolk in the UK.
She graduated from the MA Fine Art: Drawing course at Wimbledon School of Art in London in 2005. Shortly after graduation Allen started experimenting with paper collage and the detailed technique she developed soon became the main part of her practice.
Allen centres her practice around an ever expanding series of intricate collages, meticulously created using layer upon layer of tiny paper cuttings. The subjects are landscapes, often epic in scope but with a detailed aesthetic that references 17th and 18th century engravings of a geographical nature. Each piece often takes several months to complete.
Simultaneously fantastical and real, beautiful yet troubling, the collages depict a world in turmoil, landscapes of altered ecosystems that are subject to bizarre natural phenomena. Ruins sit strewn amongst unfamiliar geology, the sea invades the land as the land shifts, the sky broods and terrifying storms roll in. Informed by the science, myths and history of humanity’s interaction with the environment, Allen presents us with landscapes violently shaped by the power and majesty of nature and the self destructive force of mankind.