Ben Allanoff

Ben Allanoff uses plant material, steel wire and found objects to craft sculpture installations of all sizes – including outdoor pieces – using plant material, steel wire and found objects. He also creates paintings using rust on canvas – his art often appears collaborative or sacred dialogue-inspired.

Anna Stump and Ben Allanoff’s two-person exhibition explores the paradoxes of Mojave desert ecology, where militarization coexists with abundant life forms.

Early Life and Education

Allanoff uses plant material, found objects and steel to craft outdoor sculptural installations for parks, gardens and agencies and institutions across the U.S. His smaller scale works serve to complement these installations in their respective venues. Allanoff sees his work as part of an intimate dialogue with Mother Earth wherein shapes that are both familiar yet abstract are sought out to bring harmony.

Woven Windows participants will collect branches from Eucalyptus, Arundo donax (Giant Reeds), and Tamarisk trees – commonly targeted by land managers to restore biodiversity to fragile ecosystems – throughout its duration. Once collected, these will be transformed by their group into materials used in an emotionally and socially restorative activity.

Allanoff’s prints capture the wonder and strangeness of Joshua Tree’s monzogranite boulders, with their meaty forms resting snugly within geologic time.

Achievement and Honors

Allanoff creates outdoor sculptures out of found objects and plant material, often monumental in scale and embodying desert spirit through form and appearance. He sees his art as collaboration with and sacred conversation with nature; Mil-tree is also founded upon by Allanoff to facilitate collaborations between veterans and Marines as collaborators on temporary sculptural installations by local artists aimed at increasing environmental awareness while building personal growth and community connections.