David Allee
David S. Allee is an American artist and photographer whose work centers on the built environment, urban landscapes, and the interaction between architecture and light. Allee has produced projects such as White Nights, Cross Lands, Chasing Firefly, Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center, Domino Sugar Refinery, and Frame of View.
Education
Allee received an undergraduate degree in economics and government from Cornell University in 1991, and his MFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts. He began his career as an urban planner before switching to photography.Photography
Allee's photographs are focused on the built environment, and on architecture in particular. He is well known for using found available light at night in his work, beginning with White Nights and followed by Cross Lands and, most recently, Chasing Firefly. He has also exhibited and published series of images of the abandoned Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center, defunct Domino Sugar Refinery in Brooklyn and more recently, Frame of View. In 2020, he used a tilt-shift lens to control perspective while taking frontal photographs of Broadway theatres closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
- David S. Allee, Knoxville Museum of Art, 2004
- Dark Day, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York City, 2011
- Frame of View, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York City, 2013
Group exhibitions
- Selections from the Bronx Museum Permanent Collection, Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, 2014
- Behind the Wheel, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, 2012
Collections
- Bronx Museum of the Arts
- Santa Barbara Museum of Art
- Knoxville Museum of Art