Allen Berke
https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/djnews/djn.1992.05.29.001/77
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-oil-canvas-allen-berke-bike-173019647
The Artist Allen Berke was a prolific artist who started to draw at 5 years old. He was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1948. He pursued art with a passion his entire life until his untimely death on May 22, 2003. His life was his art. His profession was artist and he stayed true to this endeavor his entire life. He sold hundreds of pieces in galleries all over the world. He lived and worked to supplement his artwork. He taught art at several schools in Michigan and New York. His was displayed in various galleries and museums in the United States from San Francisco to New England including the Detroit Institute of Art. In his lifetime his works found their way to showings in places like, Washington, D.C., Rosario, Argentina, Helsinki, Finland, Bergamo, Italy, Osaka, Japan, Nishinimiya, Japan, Madrid, Spain and London, England. He received a bachelor’s in fine arts and M.A. in oil painting from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. His first one-man show was in 1977 at the Xochilli Gallery in Rochester, Michigan. He was considered an emerging NEOEXPRESSIONIST artist. This painter works in a strong expressionistic style. "He explores a bohemian attitude to the wilder side of life, the human body and bodily expression. His paintings are often sensual, and always filled with emotion, energy and force". - Eccentric News
EDUCATION
M.A. Fine Arts, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan – 1971 TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Wayne State University- 1994 Birmingham – Bloomfield Art Association- 1994 Madison Public Schools- 1992-93 New York City Public Schools- 1984-92 Center for Creative Studies, College of Art and Design. Detroit, Mi. 1982 Macomb County Community College- 1982-83 Redford Union Adult Education- 1978-81 Roeper School 1977-79 Redford H.S. Detroit, Mi.- 1975-78 East Catholic H.S., Detroit Mi. – 1974-75
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Swords and Plowshares Gallery, Detroit, Mi.-1998 Macomb Community College- 1994 Xochipilli Gallery, Birmingham, Mi.-1992, 1989, 1984, 1982, 1977. Thaw Malin Gallery, New York, N.Y.-1986 Seltzer Gallery, New York, N.Y.- 1985 PSI Museum, New York, N.Y.-1984 New York University, New York, N.Y.- 1983 FELLOWSHIPS National Endowment for the Arts- 1982Kent State University- 1970Oxbow- Sawgatuck School of Painting, Michigan-1969
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
313 Gallery, New York, N.Y. - 1991B.N.D. Gallery "Artists Unleashed" New York, N.Y. - 1991313 Gallery, " Survial and Denial", New York, N.Y. - 1990Escuela de Bellas Artes " No Al Indulto", Rosario, Argentina - 1990Black and White in Color Gallery, " Beyond Boundaries", New York, N.Y. - 1990 (traveled toSpace and Liberty Gallery, Helsinki, Findland)Discovery Gallery "Passages", Glen Cove , N.Y. - 1990Museum NECCA - New England Center for Contemporary Art- 1990Police Biulding Gallery "Prisoners of Art", New York, N.Y. - 1989Michigan Gallery "Figure", Detroit, Mi - 1988Octagon Exhibit, New York, N.Y. - 1988Arte Studio "88", Bergamo, Italy - 1988Art Act Gallery, "Jagged Edge" Miami, Florida - 1988Tobe Art International, New York, N.Y. - 1988Artifacts Salon, Miami, Fl
