Richard Allen (1933-1999)

From the late 1960s Allen worked on two-colour stripe acrylic paintings such as the present work. In 1971, he was invited to join a group exploring systemic paintings called Matrix. In Allen's words 'This involved the idea of a recoverable system underlying the construction of the painting' (Exhibition catalogue, Richard Allen A Retrospective, Offer Waterman, London, 2008). `Warp' was included in the first Matrix exhibition in Bristol. The exposure from being involved in this exhibition led to Allen's inclusion in the Systems Exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery the following year.