About Allen Wittert
I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa . I grew up on English and American books and comics - Mad Magazine and Marvel held a special place for me but I was also drawn to books holding the works of the Dutch masters and Picasso. No real museums in Johannesburg to see these works, so after graduating with a degree in Graphic Design, Europe was first on my travel list. I think I have a wildly exaggerated view of the world, and rather than try fix that, I incorporate it into my art. I took the long road getting to America, traveling through Europe and living in London for six years where I illustrated for a living, and it was in London that I first began showing my paintings in local galleries. I attended the Slade School of Art for a summer, in order to learn how to abstract and let go of representation totally, a difficult thing to do at first. In 2000, I settled in Fairfield CT. I have had the good fortune to be able to paint mostly full time [ I still can’t say no to a challenging storyboard job. ] My challenge in art is to create paintings that excite, works that have life, color and energy based around subjects that I find appealing and interesting.