Dan Allon 
Contemporary Art

Artist Statement 

​

I am an artist, writer, musician, and teacher. This website showcases works that were shown in exhibitions, played online, and published via digital or printed mediums. 

​

At the core of my artistic pursuit lies a strong desire for narrative. Methodologically, my working process is similar to an author. I use personal stories and mix them with ready-made objects, I relive memories, invent alter egos, and create parallel worlds. By that, I hope to evoke discussions about topics hard to comprehend, such as health issues, human rights, gender, war, nationalism among others. My practice is diverse: live art, installation, by-hand/digital-printed drawing, sound/music, and graphic novels. I use a diversity of mediums to surprise the spectators, establish intimacy, yet make them feel uncomfortable. Although there are connective and repetitive themes in my portfolio, it might seem like a group exhibition, rather than “branded” and unified in style.

In recent years, I have been investigating the concept of biography and the tie between art and life, through using my own as a case study. My main strategy is "putting myself on stage." I use humor (including self-humor), irony, and embarrassment, to challenge the spectator's most fundamental perceptions about where life and art meet. For example, I use my family, my army service, my medical files, and make them the base of my practice, adding invented details and creating a mockumentary work of art.  I try to blur hierarchies between truth and fiction, hence, often the spectator does not know if the story is honest or decisive.