Harry Ally

We have always been fascinated with living areas & studios of other artists. There is something so inspiring about seeing an artist in the place where he daily battles with the muses. So we dedicate this portion of Harry's site to all the artists who have so graciously opened up their inner sanctums for us.

2003-04-11 Skip Davis & Harry

2006-10-17

2006-10-18

2007-02-03

2007-04-20

2007-04-21

2007-04 Ohio Studio

2007 Lowe Gallery Reception - Bill Lowe, Suzanne Ally, Harry Ally, Debra Fritts, Joshua Meyer, Christopher Cousins, Eva Lowe, Dancer

2007-05-11 Lowe Gallery Reception

2007-09-29

2007-Spring 5th Grade Lecture

2009-07-07

2011-04 - VSU Students

2012-04 - VSU Students & Lucy

2012-04 VSU Studio

VIDEO

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:26:58 -0400

Videos featuring Harry Ally

The first video is a video montage of interviews which film maker Mark George conducted & filmed over several months. The resulting film lasts only 7.5 minutes but gives deep glimpses into the mind of the artist Harry Ally.

The second short video was informally filmed one day when Harry was discussing the Jim Dine film about his German drawing Exhibition.

The third video was filmed during a painting demo at Alabama Art Colony.

Pieces of Harry

Discussion of Jim Dine

Alabama Art Colony Demo

QUOTES

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:35:52 -0400

some quotes from artists and writers

DRAWING

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:50:33 -0400

Dorothy with Leopard Hat . 30 x 22" . charcoal on paper . 2008

Figure Drawing #3 . 30 x 22" . charcoal on paper . 2007

Figure Study #4 . 2009

Figure Study #3 . 30 x 22" . conte on paper . 2001

Exotic Kimesha . 30 x 22" . charcoal, acrylic, pastel, tape on paper . 2007

DRAWING . Arms Behind Neck . 30x22 . Charcoal/Paper

DRAWING . Arms Behind Back . 30x22 . Charcoal/Paper

DRAWING . Figure Study Dorothy . 30x22 . Charcoal/Paper

DRAWING . Figure Study Dorothy #5 . 30x22 . Charcoal/Paper

DRAWING . Figure Study Dorothy #6 . 30x22 . Charcoal/Paper

DRAWING . Seated Figure Study . 30x22 . Charcoal/Paper

Figure Study #2 . 30 x 22" . conte on paper . 2001

Girl with Blue Breast . 30 x 22" . charcoal, conte on paper . 2007

Figure Study #1 . 30 x 22" . conte on paper . 2001

Adrienne . 30 x 22" . charcoal on paper . 2007

WomanwithPinkFaceandHorns-30x22-MixedPaper

Figure Drawing #6 . 30x22 . Charcoal on Paper

Figure #59 . 30x22 . Charcoal & Conte on Paper . 2007

Figure #60 . 30x22 . Charcoal & Conte on Paper . 2007

Figure #63 . 30 x 22" . charcoal, conte on paper . 2007

Standing Man with Breasts . 30 x 22" . charcoal, pastel, acrylic on paper . 2007

Figure # 83 . 24x18" . Charcoal, Acrylic on Paper

Figure # 84 . 24x18 . Charcoal & Acrylic on Paper

Figure with Outstretched Arms . 22x15"

Study for Two Arms . 30x22 . Charcoal on Paper

Figure #65 . 45 x 28" . charcoal, pastel, acrylic on linoleum . 2007

Figure #79 . 60 x 36" . charcoal, pastel, acrylic on paper . 2008

Dymphna . 51 x 31" . charcoal, pastel, acrylic on linoleum . 2007

Figure #38 . 30 x 22" . charcoal, pastel, acrylic on paper . 2007

Figure #71 . 34x24 . Mixed on Paper

Figure with Stick Drawing

2008-UntitledFigureStudy45x28-MixedPaper

Self Portrait with Horns . 30 x 22" . charcoal, pastel, acrylic on paper . 2008

Harry . 28 x 22" . charcoal, pastel, acrylic on paper . 2007

STATEMENTS

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:49:47 -0400

Artist's Statement

My work follows in the long tradition of painting. For me painting is the primal impulse to mark. It’s a visual record of the mind, the body, and the human spirit. It’s about a need to both create and to destroy. Maybe it’s out of sheer frustration that I paint, maybe it’s out of a need to violate or to contradict, or possibly, it’s simply about the pure enjoyment of mark-making, either way, there is a strong feeling present and I feel compelled to react to this feeling.

The content in my work is often ambiguous and rooted in a surrealistic trust of intuition. The work is related to the gestalt, an incompleteness that suggests rather than illustrates. In some works an obvious image appears, other pieces are less obvious and are often layered with fragmented ideas, incomplete thoughts, and multiple meanings. Each painting usually begins without a preconceived image. They begin with a series of random mark-making. Marks, images, textures, and colors often appear, then are revised, altered, corrected, rejected, and at times even accepted. The works are based on an improvisational search for correctness with an emphasis on documenting the history of the painting. They are a response to the physicality of painting, a love of materials, an appreciation of process, and to the seduction of surface. The paintings allude to the beauty of decay, to violation, and to vulnerability. They are excavations, a palimpsest of surfaces layered with a variety of materials...dry pigments, acrylics, tar, fabrics, oils, bonding agents, along with different clays dug from the Georgia soil. From these materials figurative images are often unearthed. At other times paintings are often left devoid of specific visual references completely and rely solely on pure abstraction. They are surfaces that attempt to reveal a sense of time and a certain kind of depth, a depth that is both physical through build up and layering as well as emotional depth through destructive scarring. In the end the works are about a search, a search for truth and a search for correctness through the act of painting.

BIO

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:49:37 -0400

Harry Ally is from Bridgewater, New Jersey. He has an MFA degree in painting from the University of North Texas and a BFA from Texas Christian University. He has been a Professor of Art for over thirty years and is now retiring from Valdosta State University as an emeritus professor. His work has appeared in many national and solo exhibitions across the country. He has won numerous awards for his work and many of his pieces are included in private and corporate collections. He has been represented by a number of galleries over the years including the Pryor Gallery and the Bill Lowe Gallery in Atlanta, the Soren Christensen in New Orleans, the Stricoff in NYC, the Craighead Green Gallery in Dallas, among others. He currently maintains a private studio and serves as the Artist in Residence of the Lincoln Art House in Troy, Ohio.

Artist’s Statement 2012

CONTACT

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:07:34 -0400

This form will send a private email to Harry & Suzy.

PAINTING

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:05:55 -0400