In SHADOW PLAY, her first exhibition for Hay Hill Gallery, Roxana Halls has created an arresting new series of works and drawn together a selection of paintings produced over a number of years.
From her recent exploration of still life, to mysterious images of women with their backs turned to us, and highlights from her exuberant Tingle-Tangle show, first seen at The National Theatre, London, a focus on performance, spectacle & display links these images to form a compelling collection.
Everywhere we look in this show, her women are spectacular, whether theatrically so or by dint of subversive domestic behavior. These pictures recall the philosopher Judith Butler's concept of “gender performance” in which all sexual identity is a of parodic role playing.
Halls' women respond to this state of affairs in a range of ways. Mrs Irma Powell seems queenly and tranquil in her exercise of power, Miss Lotte Von Muller's sideways glance is no mere pose, and Inferna exerts a destructive force. Attuned to current preoccupations,
Halls is drawn to investigate the meaning of key cultural trends. She anticipated the revival of the cabaret and burlesque scene in her Tingle-Tangle project, which offers tableaux that reflect a modern yearning for a historicized, escapist and erotic glamour.
Her latest images mischievously reference the current taste for vintage objects and their aspiration to capture a quintessence of Englishness. Cupcakes, tablecloths and pop-up confections: we are presented with the mise-en-scene of a rather ladylike world in a palette to match. Yet, all is in flux, flying through air or impossibly balanced and on the verge of toppling. Capricious, these images hint at both the allure and precariousness of an idealized polite culture.
Halls sees that part of the attraction of all these things is that they symbolize a kind of peace and security that seems elusive today, as if through the rituals of taking tea and making jellies the genteel life they allude to will be ours. For all their ideas these pictures are never at risk of toppling under the weight of conceptual discussion.
Halls' work is always underpinned by a commitment to the painted image and she sees the canvas as a fascinating stage in which to create a wonderful performance or illusion.
Halls’ work is in many private and public collections in the UK and internationally, and her commissions include Alan Grieve CBE, Chairman of the Jerwood Foundation, John Simopoulos, Emeritus Professor, St. Catherine's College Oxford and Nick Hackworth for Brian Sewell, art critic of the London Evening Standard.
"In the National Portrait Gallery's annual exhibition of young painters' work I have for some years now always looked first for Roxana's offering. She has never won the prize that she so much deserves, but that has been the fault of the shallow judges who in haste have failed to recognise her discerning draughtsmanship and honest ability to paint, who have not read the eerie narratives behind the portraiture, who have been too dull-witted to share her passionate melancholy." Brian Sewell
From her recent exploration of still life, to mysterious images of women with their backs turned to us, and highlights from her exuberant Tingle-Tangle show, first seen at The National Theatre, London, a focus on performance, spectacle & display links these images to form a compelling collection.
Everywhere we look in this show, her women are spectacular, whether theatrically so or by dint of subversive domestic behavior. These pictures recall the philosopher Judith Butler's concept of “gender performance” in which all sexual identity is a of parodic role playing.
Halls' women respond to this state of affairs in a range of ways. Mrs Irma Powell seems queenly and tranquil in her exercise of power, Miss Lotte Von Muller's sideways glance is no mere pose, and Inferna exerts a destructive force. Attuned to current preoccupations,
Halls is drawn to investigate the meaning of key cultural trends. She anticipated the revival of the cabaret and burlesque scene in her Tingle-Tangle project, which offers tableaux that reflect a modern yearning for a historicized, escapist and erotic glamour.
Her latest images mischievously reference the current taste for vintage objects and their aspiration to capture a quintessence of Englishness. Cupcakes, tablecloths and pop-up confections: we are presented with the mise-en-scene of a rather ladylike world in a palette to match. Yet, all is in flux, flying through air or impossibly balanced and on the verge of toppling. Capricious, these images hint at both the allure and precariousness of an idealized polite culture.
Halls sees that part of the attraction of all these things is that they symbolize a kind of peace and security that seems elusive today, as if through the rituals of taking tea and making jellies the genteel life they allude to will be ours. For all their ideas these pictures are never at risk of toppling under the weight of conceptual discussion.
Halls' work is always underpinned by a commitment to the painted image and she sees the canvas as a fascinating stage in which to create a wonderful performance or illusion.
Halls’ work is in many private and public collections in the UK and internationally, and her commissions include Alan Grieve CBE, Chairman of the Jerwood Foundation, John Simopoulos, Emeritus Professor, St. Catherine's College Oxford and Nick Hackworth for Brian Sewell, art critic of the London Evening Standard.
"In the National Portrait Gallery's annual exhibition of young painters' work I have for some years now always looked first for Roxana's offering. She has never won the prize that she so much deserves, but that has been the fault of the shallow judges who in haste have failed to recognise her discerning draughtsmanship and honest ability to paint, who have not read the eerie narratives behind the portraiture, who have been too dull-witted to share her passionate melancholy." Brian Sewell
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Opening Hours : Mon - Fri (1pm - 5pm) or by appointment / Sat - Sun (by appointment) +44(0)7502211914
Address : Art Moorhouse, Moor House, 120 London Wall, Greater London, EC2Y 5ET
Opening Hours : Mon - Fri (1pm - 5pm) or by appointment / Sat - Sun (by appointment) +44(0)7502211914
Address : Art Moorhouse, Moor House, 120 London Wall, Greater London, EC2Y 5ET
