"David Hall: Moon Window"
2003-10-29 until 2003-12-06
Bishop's University Art Gallery
Lennoxville, QC, CA

The Art Gallery of Bishop’s University is proud to present its latest exhibition titled Moon Window. This site specific installation will showcase recent and past work of the Montreal based artist David Hall and examine the relationship between figure and ground, format and spectator viewpoint, as well as explore the limits between painting and sculpture. Moon Window stems from the artist’s continued concerns with our perception of time, space and scale. Heavily inspired by the German Romantic Casper David Friedrich, Hall uses the genera of landscape, whether desolate urban scenes or minimalist spatial views, to investigate the meaning invested in symbols and signs.

David Hall's previous work showed various urban settings which presented vestiges of the negative impact of human presence on the environment, thus implying a passage of time. Throughout his body of work, the artist has continuously been interested with the depiction of relentless change.

In the work entitled Five Lunar Phases, Hall will examine the passage of time through the depiction of a lunar cycle. He will also explore the spatial rapport between the viewer and the work by orchestrating his installation in such a way as to give the public the impression they are gazing into space from the window of an observatory. There is a great concern, on his part, with the creation of moods and sensations through the juxtaposition of space and object in real and pictorial space.

In its fusion of sculpture, drawing and painting, Moon Window differs from Hall’s previous work which concentrated solely on painting. In his earlier works, David Hall created fictional urban settings where he used line and colour in such a way as to suggest the illusion of expanding space. In Moon Window, though the emphasis is still on painting, Hall relies on various materials to convey the impression of perspective. Hall explains that it was the subject matter of Moon Window that compelled him to break out of his usual approach and experiment with various media. Hall will transform the exhibition space through his direct interventions on the gallery walls to explore and exceed the physical limitations of traditional paintings. This body of work is a logical expansion and exploration of his previous two-dimensional pieces. By establishing a visual dialogue between his new site specific work and his more autonomous canvas paintings, Moon Window promises a compelling experience for the viewer.

IMAGE
David Hall
Lune Verte, 2001
Painting
Oil on Canvas
29 x 43 cm

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