We’re looking forward to introducing you to Jerry Allison. Check out our conversation below.
Good morning Jerry, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
I have begun to take my role as a home chef much more seriously. I learned to cook as a young adult (a matter of survival) but found I really enjoyed the creative aspect of preparing and serving food. In the last few months I have really upped my game, subscribed to a cooking magazine, avidly reading Anthony Bourdain, becoming much more systematic in organizing my kitchen, practicing “clean as you go”, etc. I think there is a reason for this.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a Russian Social Psychologist coined the term “hypernormalisation” to describe a behaviour he observed. The known and familiar Soviet world suddenly vanished into chaos, the Oligarchs seized the economy and ordinary people felt confused and powerless to affect change. So they retreated, deeply, into some aspect of their daily lives for meaning and security.
I am not suggesting that our chaotic, uncertain and devisive political situation in this country is, as yet, as severe as the collapse of the U.S.S.R. But there are similarities. And I know many people who have deeply retreated into their hobbies and activities as a way of avoiding the daily onslaught of bad news.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
As a high school student, I was in love with the Visual Arts and Architecture. My role model was Le Corbusier, who was both a highly original Architect and Painter. I studied Architecture and practiced for several years. But I found the creative aspect to be too often submerged by the technical, legal and managerial aspects. I determined to devote myself purely to Visual Art. After some years I entered graduate school and received an M.F.A. in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I have shown my painting and mixed media work widely across the U.S. For some years I worked with the Group “Projects for a New Millenium” doing performance and environmental installation work. In 2016, I moved to Colorado from the East Coast. Here, I became aware of the richness of the area in ancient ruins and rock art. After visiting major sites, like Mesa Verde and Chaco, I began to travel the mountain and desert West in search of lesser known and undocumented sites. I became a self-taught Fine Art Photographer in order to document these haunting sites before advancing development and vandalism could erase them. My first truely original body of work came from this activity. Off trail hiking and scrambling in search of sites to record, I found the bones of many wild animals. These called out to me to be seen, noticed, honored in their moment of entropy. From this came the ongoing series “Nature Morte”. The scope of my photography has expanded to include more “conventional” subject matter (Travel. Portraits, Still Life, etc) as well. I am now represented by D’art 360 Gallery in Denver’s Santa Fe Arts District, and show my work around the U.S., in Europe, and on-line and in print. My work was recently in a “Travel” themed show at Blank Wall Gallery in Athens, Greece.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
I was about four years old, on the beach in St. Augustine, Florida. I saw a small sailboat on the sea, and thought I had never seen anything so beautiful or so magical. I found a small piece of driftwood and ran to where the sand was wet and packed but above the incoming waves. I drew a sailboat of my own in the wet sand, large, large enough for me to step into and then suddenly, I am set free, sailing away, away into the expanding universe.
This is a vivid memory I have never forgotten. It was the essence of the power of the creative act, the linking of eye, mind and hand to manifest a transformation of consciousness. As the skilled artist matures, they learn to manifest that same transformation of consciousness in the viewer of their created artwork.
When you were sad or scared as a child, what helped?
I would guess, dear reader, that my answer is no surprise. I would retreat into images and image making. I always loved to draw, and did so incessantly. A practice that continues to this day, whether from sadness, joy or curiousity.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
Freedom. In particular, freedom of thought, and of expression. The right to think, read, say or publish whatever one may wish. The freedom to dissent, loudly and visibly, from whatever orthodoxy a government, a political movement, a religion or an economic system may attempt to impose on an individual or a society. There are many varities of false or hateful propaganda floating around today. Rather than see any of them be pushed down the slippery slope of censorship, I would prefer they be subject to loud, vigorous and honest debate with rational and freedom loving individuals. In that way, truth will triumph over lies and hatred.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If you laid down your name, role, and possessions—what would remain?
An eye. An eye that loves the light. An eye that strives to be all-seeing. An eye that is connected to a conscious and analytic mind.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jerryallisonfineartphotography.com
- Facebook: Jerry Allison (Jerry Allison Artist Photographer
- Other: coyotesboneyard.com
coyotesdream.com
Image Credits
Jerry Allison
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