Guy Allen brings a distinctly contemporary eye to one of the oldest printmaking traditions in existence, and the animals and birds of the Norfolk countryside he grew up in are the better for it. His etchings carry an energy and warmth that the medium does not always produce, elevated further by hand-applied 24-carat gold leaf.
Working without photographic aids, Allen draws directly through a resin resist onto copper and zinc plates with an etching needle, which are then acid-bitten, inked by hand, and pressed on an old intaglio press onto acid-free paper. He combines etching with aquatint, screen printing, and lithography across different editions, giving each technique its own textural register.
Allen studied at Central Saint Martins from 2008 to 2011, and won the Diana Brooks Prize at the Mall Galleries in 2018. His work has been shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and is held by the Earl and Countess of Leicester at Holkham Hall, alongside numerous private collectors across Norfolk and beyond.
He lives and works on the North Norfolk coast, and is known as much for his philanthropic support of arts charities as for the work itself.
