“I was drawn to Theodora Allen’s work through her unique process; she layers watercolour and oil, often using chemical washes that give her paintings an almost alchemical luminosity,” Gallerist Eric Haeger tells me when I meet him a couple of days before the opening of the Los Angeles-based painter’s show at his gallery STANCE.
He continues: “There is a quiet intensity and symbolism in her work that lingers. She’s already a well-established artist in the US, she also carries strong institutional backing, which is not without significance. I am truly honoured to be presenting her debut exhibition in Sweden. We walk around the gallery, where Haeger is in the middle of installing Allen’s paintings. The space is located around the corner from one of Stockholm’s toniest squares, Östermalmstorg, where recently a lot of galleries have opened.
STANCE brings an air of Berlin to the new gallery district, with its black walls and a tunnel-like corridor to reach the exhibition room, which is accentuated by beautiful sky windows, and a program of international artists. “The goal is to push audiences to raise their eyes beyond the familiar, to experience what happens when art doesn’t just speak to you but knocks you flat,” he says while arranging Allen’s paintings along the wall. Haeger’s vision for the gallery is to showcase the very best artists from the network he has built over many years living and working in the German capital and across continental Europe.He’s off to a good start, having already mounted an extraordinary show with Berlin-based Aneta Kajzer. And, in November, he will exhibit LA-based Kara Joslyn.
How would you describe your first year running STANCE?
This first year has been trial and error- figuring out what resonates with the local market while at the same time avoiding making the programming uninteresting by going too commercial. One task that I underestimated is how demanding it can be with shipping. It’s been challenging, yes, but also energizing, and it’s only the beginning. A few days later, ahead of the opening, I spoke with Allen from her studio in LA.
Tell us a bit about your solo show at STANCE and which pieces will be included?
The show is entitled Intimate Terms, and it will include eight paintings. The largest works are a tripartite series of oil paintings, The Starry Vault (Germination). I’ll often start with a painting that I consider the ‘keystone’ work and build from there. These paintings picture a series of observation windows where a sharp border, painted to resemble the mechanical and precise edge of die-cut metal, leads the way to a field of blue. Through this portal window is a germinating seed, captured in some stage of transition, magnified at human scale.
You have a very intricate visual language, where timeless symbols like the snake and stars recur. What influences you?
I consider both individual works and the overall progression of the body of work—nothing is discrete; they build on each other. An image of a symbol can be taken from one painting, and flipped or rearranged, broken down or reduced. One read is accessed through image, another layer peels back through surface – what is retained and what is obscured?
The light in the work is important. It’s a balance in preserving areas of light while dimming others. An element that is solid and defined in one painting can be dissolved in the next. And what do those gestures ultimately tell you about an image or symbol, and how do they shape the meaning? I’m interested in the endlessly mutable qualities of both.
Hues of light blue are a theme that one can see in more or less all your paintings. What is it about the color blue that appeals to you?
Many of the recent paintings have been in a palette of blue and grey. Blue creates distance. Recent paintings involve representations of stone, metal, and sky, objects and atmosphere that often fall under those local hues. But the paintings haven’t always been blue; it’s been an evolution. I could point you towards some prismatic paintings from the recent past. However, the process tends to pollute the spectrum. Because of this, there aren’t many works that retain a bright or vivid hue, even if they start that way.
How do you work with titles for your paintings and shows?
Titles are the way I catalogue and organise the work. I often work in series, and a series can span many years with years between consecutive works. Numbering them creates a thread through time—They stay connected. The ideas can stretch out and reemerge. There is no finality.
I have a strong affinity for poetry and music. Particularly in song. Perhaps it’s for this reason that I tend to avoid overly floral titles when cataloguing my own work—The poetry in my work is in the surface, in the imagery, and in the groupings; the titles simply tell you where they belong in the timeline. I’ll use both Roman numerals and Arabic numerals, standard numbers.
When it comes to serendipity, is there any chance encounter that has influenced your expression in a certain direction?
I worked with Silke Otto Knapp and Lari Pittman when I was in graduate school at UCLA. Conversations with both artists shaped the way I think about imagery and process during a formative time. Jeff Poe of Blum & Poe gallery in LA was, and remains, a supportive advocate. The relationship didn’t influence my expression, as you put it, but it provided support and a platform for my work that allowed me to deepen my engagement and focus as an emerging artist—I was able to just paint.
Theodora Allen Intimate Terms is on view at STANCE, Storgatan 25, 114 55, Stockholm through October 22, 2025.