A pillar of the Detroit art community since the 1960s, Allie McGhee (b. 1941, Charleston, WV) is known for his lyrical, material-driven works rendered in swirling constellations of industrial
paint and found media. Inspired by cosmology, African symbolism, and the rhythms of free jazz, his work explores the inherent tensions between spontaneity and premeditation, intention, and accident. These spattered, trawled, and often deconstructed pieces are composed by pouring paint and using hand tools rather than brushes, enabling the artist to create energetic compositions that appear effortless, like natural formations. Remarking on McGhee’s devotion to this process, California African American Museum curator Taylor Renee Aldridge writes: “McGhee found the paintbrush to be an inadequate device to use for the scale he desired...the artist became interested in liberating the paint on his canvas, allowing it to have its own voice. McGhee does not desire to dominate the materials in which he works, but rather he aims to be in collaboration with or even a student of them.” Much like Ed Clark's use of brooms or Jack Whitten's engagement with Afro combs, McGhee seeks out unorthodox approaches to painting to push the conventions of the medium beyond its limits.

Harper's

Detroit

Charleston

Miami

Nada

NADA Miami

New York City

Marlborough

Marianne Boesky

Sean Kelly

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit

Chicago

Expo Chicago

Los Angeles

Caam

Detroit Institute of Arts

Bloomfield Hills

Cranbrook Art Museum

Ica Miami

The Studio Museum In Harlem

Allie Mcghee

Moon Nite Dance

Blues Wrap

Micro Dream

Pair-A-Mount

Big Bang