Known for her expressive and fantastic paintings, Christina Allan is fueled by the individual and collective anxieties surrounding the human condition.

Originally from Toronto, Canada, Allan moved to New York City in 2013 to pursue her dream of becoming an artist. There, she received a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree in painting from Parsons the New School for Design in 2017 and was awarded the institution’s Dean’s BFA Scholarship. Her paintings can be found in private collections throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. From dramatic mythical scenes to deeply introspective psychological portraits, Allan’s canvases populate a world of creatures and references to fantasy, from angels and deities to Pegasi, spirits, and psychopomps. A blend of abstraction and figuration, her fictional narratives take place in a natural realm that is dreamy yet real, mirroring how existence can often feel like a rigged game or fleeting dream.

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Bold and colorful, Allan’s paintings are executed using many materials, including acrylic and oil paint, airbrush, oil stick, modeling paste, and more. Her process begins with sketching characters and scenes that are eventually brought to life on canvas while sometimes digitally altering them using creative software to give them an edge. She works in a continuous cycle of mark-making that ultimately forms a vibrant, multi-layered outcome.

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Allan’s paintings explore profound aspects of the collective human experience. Central to her practice is her exploration of philosophy and mythology. She is often informed by authors' existentialist ideas, including Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus and the mythology of ancient civilizations. She views myths as a representation of a complex and unchanged human experience and the expression of universal concerns and passions like death, grief, fear, love, and violence. Her work has interpreted ancient Greek legends and figures, including Sisyphus, Icarus, Narcissus, and more. Similar to how ancient mythological Gods and Goddesses served as answers to the mysteries of a meaningless world and universe, Allan’s work presents an in-between space and state – an escape from an absurd quotidian existence. She is interested in authentic emotions, experiences, and philosophical struggles that we experience as humans, including the inability as a finite being to comprehend the infinite (the universe). She believes her subconscious guides her making and views art as a therapeutic escape and an inherent part of her identity. She currently lives and works in Toronto, Canada.