DISSEVER

Disintegration / Perc Tucker Regional Gallery

Working non-objectively, Hall’s most powerful work is often ‘left’ at a critical moment, stopped at a point of tension and unfinish. The unfinished drawing as marker of skill and sensibility is a venerable (if sometimes overlooked) aspect of the discipline. Pentimenti operates on both the conceptual and the physical level of drawing. Pentimenti, a drawing term, is used to describe a permanent line or mark that cannot be so easily erased, transforming the sketch to a finished work. The word itself is derived from the word 'repentance', implying sorrow at the loss of the sketch itself. The idea of repentance through drawing has an undertone of religious piety, a solemnity that acknowledges drawing's importance to the fundamentals of art and design…. Pentiminti is an accurate descriptor for Hall's approach to drawing, which is an evolving exploration of media and gestural, non-objective mark making. Often, works that could conceivably be considered finished themselves become platforms for further exploration; often, Hall will tape off a section of a work and coat it with a perfectly matte pour of deliciously-surfaced pain (think of icing a cake), or applying a spreading of surface with a sponge, leaving only hints of the work beneath. In this way, Hall’s approach is that of a scientist, or a baker; there are base elements to be considered, and experimented with in a set context, but the emergent possibilities are endless.

From Disintegration catalogue essay by Jonathan McBurnie