Phillip Allen

at The approach (Frieze Art Fair New York 2012)

Permanence of the Unexpected Windfall, 2011

Our life experience as it moves from the current events(the bottom of the painting) to the distant past converts into logs. Wood logs (the central and upper parts of the painting). The father the events in time( farther up from the bottom) the more the logs are condensed, some events even collude creating a memory of an event that is actually several events happened a long time ago. All those memories (the logs) burden down onto our life, influencing our behavior and decisions. But we are getting help with this load. Our memory fails(the white-bordered semi-transparent figures). It fails for good reasons. It lets us make new decisions easier. It makes our memories feel better than they were.