ROXANA HALLS
Having set up her studio in an old theatre in South London, Roxana Halls’ paintings are often haunted by a dark ‘backstage’ atmosphere. Intimate glances into dressing rooms or behind drawing room curtains, expose where paint is peeling and masks are slipping.
© Paintwork Films
Alongside her commitment to the painted image, Halls' work is underpinned by her curiosity about key cultural trends. She has become increasingly interested in posing questions about the ways in which gender and class norms slyly intersect today to circumscribe the repertoire of legitimate actions available to women. Her work suggests an awareness of both Foucauld's concept of the surveillance society with its internalised rules of conduct and the recent resurgence of a feminist activism which explores and confronts elements of a contemporary culture in which women's behaviour is still being appraised, influenced & policed. This is evident, for example, in the female appropriation of the nostalgic role of demure home baker, or the online admonishment of women eating in public places.
“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
Halls’ second solo exhibition at Hay Hill Gallery features uncharacteristic, devil-maycare reactions to appetite. The works are a wry observation of the push and pull of society’s expectations, swinging from quiet introspection to wild exhibitionism- and back again. Leaving behind their unmanageable emotional excesses, the female subjects are freed from overwhelming fears, open mouthed in anticipation of a feast. Oranges spill out from a woman’s shirt as it unbuttons itself; a beauty queen takes the first bite from her prize bouquet; a golden haired girl floats away from a telephone conversation; arms snake out from under a tablecloth like an octopus or Indian god. Having recovered from a paralysing state of longing, they throw caution to the wind and unleash their true natures. Commissions include Alan Grieve CBE, Chairman of the Jerwood Foundation, John Simopoulos, Emeritus Professor, St. Catherine's College Oxford and Nick Hackworth, Founder of Paradise Row Gallery for the collection of Brian Sewell. Her work is in many public and private collections in the UK and internationally, including The Discerning Eye Collection, St. Catherine's College Oxford, London Evening Standard Art Critic Brian Sewell, Bafta Award winning actor Katherine Parkinson & actor KellyAnne Lyons.
A Little Light Reading Oil on linen 140 x 80 cm
Yellow Room Oil on linen 77 x 61 cm
Blue Room Oil on linen 71 x 66 cm
Red Room Oil on linen 76 x 71 cm
Green Room Oil on linen 66 x 61 cm
Jonna Oil on linen 45 x 40 cm
Keepsakes Oil on linen 81 x 76 cm
Cameo Woman I Oil on linen 31 x 25 cm
Cameo Woman II Oil on linen 31 x 25 cm
Cameo Woman III Oil on linen 31 x 26 cm
Car Oil on linen 61 x 51 cm
Modest Gels I Modest Gels II
Modest Gels III Modest Gels IV Oil on linen 67 x 61 cm each
Sleepwalking Oil on linen 122 x 122 cm
Nest I Oil on linen 65 x 60 cm
Nest II Oil on linen 65 x 60 cm
A Teaser For The Able Milliner Oil on linen 81 x 91 cm
Figure Oil on linen 30 x 25 cm
Front I Oil on linen 65 x 60 cm
Front II Oil on linen 65 x 60 cm
In the Trees Oil on linen 61 x 77 cm
Back II Back III Oil on linen 70 x 45 cm each
Back IV Back V Oil on linen 70 x 45 cm each
Back VI Back VII Oil on linen 70 x 45 cm each
Spinning Oil on linen 120 x 110 cm
Knot Oil on linen 77 x 77 cm
Tunnel Oil on linen 51 x 51 cm
Down – Up Oil on linen 62 x 42 cm each
The Goose A Prisoner Oil on linen 87 x 77 cm
Portrait Of The Artist & Her Wife Oil on linen 118 x 92 cm
Popcorn Oil on linen 75 x 75 cm
The Usherette Oil on linen 160 x 80 cm
Beauty Queen Oil on linen 90 x 90 cm
Faux Oil on linen 75 x 75 cm
Sushi Oil on linen 75 x 75 cm
Sweet Tooth Oil on linen 75 x 75 cm
Carvery Oil on linen 120 x 130 cm
Feeding Table Oil on linen 105 x 105 cm
Collapsed Jelly Oil on linen 50 x 50 cm
White Icing Oil on linen 50 x 50 cm
The Divided Pear Oil on canvas 87 x 62 cm
12 Hysterical Women Oil on panel 92 x 122 cm
A Hysterical Woman Oil on panel 122 x 103 cm
The Tea Tower Oil on linen 61 x 51 cm
The Tablecloth Trick Oil on linen 142 x 145 cm
Tower Of Mabel Oil on linen 142 x 81 cm
A Shocker For The Careful Housekeeper Oil on linen 81 x 91 cm
Walking The Ceiling Oil on canvas 122 x 91 cm
Terina The Paper Tearer & Inferna The Human Torch Oil on linen 183 x 183 cm
The Two Annas Oil on linen 157 x 152 cm
Selected Exhibitions 2014
2013
2012
2011
2009
Winter Pride Awards, Chart Gallery, Chelsea, London Winter Pride Awards, Tobacco Dock, London Winter Pride Awards at Office Sessions, East India Dock, London Hay Hill Gallery at Henley Festival National Open Art Exhibition, Royal College of Art, London National Open Art Exhibition, Minerva Theatre, Chichester, UK London Art Fair, Islington, London International Summer Showcase, Hay Hill Gallery, Cork St, London Lucid Dreams, Hay Hill Gallery at Moor House, London Domestic Disturbance, Beaux Arts Bath Shadow Play, Hay Hill Gallery, Cork St, London Tingle-Tangle and Other Tales, Lauderdale House, Highgate, London Roxana Halls' Tingle-Tangle, National Theatre, South Bank, London
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