STEVEN ALEXANDER J O U R N A L: ALISON HALL at TOTAH

Alison Hall: unannounced at TOTAH on Stanton Street through December 17

Alison Hall, Ancestral, 2017, oil, graphite, plaster on panel, 91 x 71 inches

Alison Hall makes paintings on panels coated with Venetian plaster, some painted black and some painted a deep ultramarine. These supple black or blue fields become the "arenas" for an intricate dance of graphite mark-making on a grid of tiny dots. The silvery graphite floats like a mirage on top of the dark matte fields, then disappears as the viewer's position changes. The marks follow a systematic program, but the system is often interrupted by glitches or directional changes. Particularly in the two large paintings here, the combined effect of the field and the marks assumes an intuitive organic quality, like dark flowing water, or constantly shifting winds. In many of the smaller works, the dot matrix forms a continuous grid against a blue or black field, evoking a schematic night sky, or Giotto's luscious Arena Chapel ceiling - embodiments of the infinite or the sacred. There is an immediate sense of necessity embedded in these works, and in the arduous nature of Hall's process - a deep connection to cultural history, to the emotional resonance of tradition, and to the inherent humanity in the ancient practice of making.