Joseph Alleman is only 31, but his watercolor paintings capture a powerful sense of mood and mystery that is ageless. Drawing inspiration from his Utah surroundings, Alleman approaches his canvases with a contemporary eye and traditional technique enhanced by an innate maturity and evocative sense of time and place that have drawn comparisons to Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth. Like them, he’s a signature member of the venerable American Watercolor Society. And in the tradition of these masters, Alleman has an ability to bring a deeper narrative quality to his paintings that draws the viewer in and provokes more questions than answers. Alleman moves easily between figurative works, landscapes, and what he calls his architectural pieces—distinctive views of houses, barns, and other buildings that convey a persistent but indirect link to the people (typically unseen) who built and inhabit them. His perspective and his consistent use of subtle earth tones elicit feelings of solitude, stillness, quiet—or, as he puts it succinctly, “nostalgia stripped of sentimentality.” “Artists have always portrayed emotion,” Alleman says. “For me it’s not so much loneliness or sadness. It’s a kind of inner reflection. That’s a powerful emotion to me and lends itself to scenarios where the viewer becomes part of the story line. Yet there’s a certain intrigue at work: You’ll never quite get to the bottom of this moment.” It’s no surprise that Alleman lists Wyeth, Hopper, and legendary southwestern landscape painter Maynard Dixon among his favorite artists. — From The Unseen Story written by Joshua Moone for August 2006 issue of Southwest Art Magazine
Passing Front 20" x 16" Watercolor $3,100
Misty Trees 14 x 10 Watercolor $1,800
Grand Three 30" x 22" Watercolor $5,600