Terry Allen at L.A. Louver

On view: June 26 – September 28, 2019.

Terry Allen is not just a visual artist. He is also a storyteller, a musician, and a writer. As a musician, he’s had top hits, written songs for big movies, and collaborated with David Byrne. As an artist, his work blends his musicality with theatre, spoken word, drawing, installation, collage, and sculpture, together creating a rich narrative of American life that is a mixture of fact and fiction that bends toward the fantastical. At L.A. Louver, just one block from Venice Beach, the gallery has presented a detailed chronological anthology of Terry Allen’s work—a rare occasion where his artwork and music are presented in tandem, informing each other as you dive into Allen’s created world. Instead of a show catalogue, the gallery has created a website that compiles music, artwork, and interviews with Allen himself. The show acts as a primer on Allen’s work, and an inspiring model of how a creative mind is expressed across genres of music, art, and writing.