Miles has held 16 solo exhibitions since 2002 and his last one was of sculptural works at Noosa Regional Gallery in 2018. He has shown work in 100 group shows and competitions and currently is exhibiting sculptural works at Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland. He is represented in the collections of the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, the Mater Private Hospital Brisbane and the Gold Coast University Hospital amongst others. In 2010 he completed one of the largest murals in Australia in Bella Vista, NSW. In 2016 he won the Sculpture on the Edge competition at Maleny and in 2019 won the Environment Award. In 2019 he undertook a commission for the Floating Land Festival at Noosa and had work in SWELL. His work for many years has been an ongoing exploration into recycling a variety of materials to create geometrical artworks with lines and rhythms. More recently his work asks questions about our society and he likes to involve the public in interacting with his work. His art is about seeing beauty in ordinary things, creating order, crossing cultures, promoting conversations, joy, humour and re-purposing.
2020 SWELL ARTWORK – A Walk in the Forest, Miles Allen
When restrictions around COVID-19 were implemented, I decided I would walk every day in the local forest. During these walks I made little structures out of fallen branches and sticks. One day I started a pyramid and kept adding to it each day. Since then I have made many pyramids in different places, some obscure and some in plain view. Sometimes people add to them, sometimes they knock them down and they get rebuilt. This pyramid contains a smaller one, turned upside down on its head.
SWELL Kids Artist Statement – A Walk in the Forest, Miles Allen
When I go walking, I often collect sticks and make things out of them. These pyramids are made from sticks I found in the forest. I decided to build one of the pyramids upside down, because so much is different this year and sometimes it feels as though the world has turned upside down.
Come and see for yourself at SWELL Sculpture Festival, Pacific Parade, Currumbin 11-20 September.