Allison Green

Burden of Paradise

2017

American artist Allison Green creates lush landscapes inspired by the forest playground of her childhood. Her figurative paintings, animal paintings and still-lifes are demonstrative of her affinity for the natural world. 

Green was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1974. Her childhood home was in the suburbs, on the outskirts of a forest in which she spent many happy days exploring. The outdoors still captures her imagination today. When she was a teenager, Green transformed her basement into a makeshift studio where she created a large piece of artwork on plywood for a school assignment. She’s been enamored with painting ever since.

Green attended the University of Maryland to study fine art, and she also spent time at the Studio Arts College International in Florence, Italy. 

"My hope is that the viewer of my work is equally amazed and looks more closely at the small yet astounding details found in the natural world," Green told Vice magazine. When she paints, she seeks not only to portray the physical scene but also to imbue each piece with symbolism and narrative — anthropomorphism is at work, for example, in her “Arboreal Portraits,” which sees Green naming trees after strong women in her extended family.

Green has had four solo exhibitions at Susan Eley Fine Art in New York City: “Deeply Rooted” (2011), “Entwined” (2012), “Teeming” (2015) and “The Night Garden” (2018). She continues to live and work in downtown Jersey City and is part of the Brooklyn Museum’s Feminist Art Base.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of authentic Allison Green paintings.