With classic science fiction as his muse, Allen employs crafts, rockets, scientific apparatus, and cosmonauts as a vehicle not for space exploration but for inner contemplation. His view is not glossy or futuristic, but nostalgic, timeworn, experienced. Star Trek meets wabi-sabi, the Japanese aesthetic of transience and the beauty of use. The antiquated and chimerical feeling of the work belies its sophisticated construction, allowing the viewer to revel in a simple narrative of personal exploration. His dynamic amalgamation of metalwork and glasswork, in which imperfections like oxidized joints and bubbled glass are not only welcome but encouraged, creates a harmonic balance between weight and lightness, opacity and transparency.
