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Artist information:
Tommy Allen
Grand Rapids, MI
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Tommy Allen is showing at:
San Chez Bistro & Cafe San Chez Bistro & Cafe
38 W Fulton
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
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Tommy Allen
Artist bio: PHOTO ON MY BLOG: http://tommyallenart.wordpress.com/

Come Visit The Kissing Booth and Have Your Photo Taken for This Project!

Tommy Allen is a Michigan artist with international gallery exposure. His art deals often with the collective memory of the individual and is often illustrated with imagery and processes that involve of water.

In 2005 one of his lakeshore images was awarded a national Pollie Award for the American Association of Political Consultants as part of the awareness campaign for Peter Wege's HealingOurWaters.org. Allen has also participated in a sister cities exhibition in Perugia, Italy.

For over ten years he has shown numerous times in New York City with various galleries including E3, Leslie-Lohman and the NoHo Gallery's New Century Artists. Locally his work is represented at Tanglefoot Studio and The Nines Gallery.

His latest photo documentary, The Kissing Booth, is an identity piece focusing on photo-mapping relationships in West Michigan.


Artist statement: All of my work is about relationships whether with each other or our collective environment.

The Kissing Booth is a two part installation photo-based video work of art that seeks to map our community through the photograph.

The Kissing Booth project began on June 20, 2009 at the West Michigan Pride event. ArtPrize became my second version of this project but unlike Pride which takes place on one day, I will be at the booth on multiple days.

The events are much more than just exploring the visual connections of a community but are most importantly how we interact with each other.

Historically, The June event created the largest photo record of the West MI. LGBT (and friends of LGBT) ever recorded. It is an impressive collection.

The Kissing Booth at ArtPrize will continue this exploration as thousands of people are expected to explore the streets of the city over the course of 18 days
About the work:
Title: The Kissing Booth

Art form: 3-D, Film / Video, Internet / Interactive

Medium: Photographic-Based & Performance Video Artworks

Year created: 2009

Description of work: The Kissing Booth is a photo-mapping project where people are encouraged to interact with each other in an intimate fashion. There is a public interactive piece built into the Kissing Booth which is about recording like-minded individual portraits around a common cause or theme.

Work statement: The video portion of this piece is edited by the talented Caleb Slain. Images from ArtPrize will be added to the art video through out the competition.
Technical details:
Work width: n/a
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Work depth: n/a
Required venue ceiling: n/a
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Additional considerations:
Audio/video needed: Yes
Electrical needed: Yes
Lighting needed: No
Internet access needed: Yes
Ground floor access needed: Yes
Indoor space needed: Yes
Outdoor space needed: No

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