Dominic from Luton (Cornerhouse Publications, 2017)

This inaugural study of Dominic Allan’s work beautifully illustrates the artist’s explorations of urban England, under the guise of his moniker, Dominic From Luton.

The collection ranges from early installations, painted across seafront walls in UK resorts in the early 2000’s, to his Sunridge Avenue Projects (2016), an ambitious curatorial 6-month programme, set in his parents’ suburban Luton home, including contributions by artists Martin Creed, Mark Titchner and Bedwyr Williams.

Dominic from Luton is an important documentation and overview of a body of work that comprises sculpture, photography, text, film, curation, transitory performances and happenings.

Allan, who now lives in London, pays homage to his home town of Luton within a cultural landscape overarched by social media, internet algorithms and global branding, incorporating the locale’s identity, people and histories. By embracing the marginal, the outdated, and his own adolescence, Dominic from Luton compels us to explore our own personal histories and our relationship to the metropolitan and global context of our time.

Fully illustrated with an introduction by Eddie Chambers (Professor, University of Texas at Austin), text by Derek Horton (Visiting Professor of Contemporary Art at the School of Art, Birmingham) and Mel Jordan (Head of Contemporary Art Practice at Royal College of Art), and an insightful interview with Kay Allan, Allan’s mother, by Olivia Leahy (freelance curator and writer).

See http://www.eddiechambers.com/texts/dominic/