2/20 Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings by Rebecca Allan, the artist’s fifth solo exhibition at the gallery. The exhibition comprises new paintings inspired by the landscape of southern California’s Temecula Valley, the location of Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, where Allan was an artist-in-residence in 1993, 1994, and again in 2010. Chaparral refers to a botanical ecosystem that is arid and fire-prone, with plants and animals that have adapted to drought conditions. Dorland — established in the 1930s — was destroyed by wildfire in 2004 and is now being reconstructed, one studio at a time.

Allan was invited for a summer residency as one of the first returning artists since the colony’s re-opening. Known for her longstanding exploration of watershed landscapes of the Pacific Northwest and the Hudson River, Allan’s new work explores a landscape without water, as well as the disjunction between Dorland’s wild terrain (the historic tribal land of the Pechanga band of Luiseño Indians), and the suburban enclaves and commercial developments of Temecula, visible in the distance. The exhibition at 2/20 Gallery includes paintings from 2010 as well as work from before the fire.

REBECCA ALLAN has exhibited both throughout the U. S. and internationally since 1985. Her most recent solo exhibition, Tributary, was shown at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York. She has been a fellow at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Centrum Foundation, and Dorland Mountain Arts Colony. She recently published an article on the work of Charles Burchfield (April / May issue of Fine Art Connoisseur). Allan is also the Head of Education at the Bard Graduate Center in New York City. A second solo exhibition of the artist’s work will be on view at John Davis Gallery in Hudson, New York from October 14 through November 7th, 2010