Nicholas Allanach
Nicholas Allanach is a New York City based artist and writer, originally hailing from Maine. He has lived in New York for eight years. Much of Allanach's work showcases distorted bodies or bodies manipulated by their environments and situations. He is also a friend of mine and so I took advantage and asked him some questions about his work and specific pieces. I asked him if he was conscious of his use of the human body in so much of his work.Allanach:
I have always been intrigued by the way the body (specifically the face) is represented in art. Oftentimes, I think the body or face in art can be positioned or expressed in a certain way to express a deeper feeling or idea about the human condition as it adjusts and behaves in the changing world and environment. For me, much of my work expressed my feelings about technology or our humanity as it confronts forces of commodification, simulation, and surveillance. I try to exaggerate parts of the body.
Allanach saw the above image, "Electoral College", in a dream after the 2000 election. About it, he says:
I [aslo] felt as though the expressions of pain and frustration on the faces illustrate how many felt about the dismantling of our democracy.
About "Plush":
My first thought was to show humans as insectile. I then thought of how we consume the world around us through the senses that make up our face. I wanted this piece to celebrate the human senses. I also wanted it to make the viewer feel slightly uncomfortable in that it expresses the secondary nature of sex, which is not much for procreation, but stimulation.
"Subtractor Negative 2.0":
I wanted to express my feelings on how I believe our thoughts and lives are often erased or totally spent in service to larger codes and ideas. The emphasis on the eye communicates how we receive and process this world of codes. The image of the fetus as a skeleton in the top half of the circle is meant to illustrate how our lives are in service to these codes our entire life, from birth to death.
You can see more of Allanach's work on his blog, New World Image.