Stephen Hall. conflict of interest

About

I have always tried to make paintings that are beautiful and arresting. Paintings that stop you in your tracks. Whether by the use of color and composition or odd juxtaposition of subject matter. The idea is to make the viewer do a double-take and then get drawn in and perhaps ask questions.

These new paintings are motivated by the current political climate. As Joe Strummer once said: "If you want to tell the truth, you really got to be specific”. I am trying to be specific.

The total disregard of human rights via the increasingly militarized police force, immigration policies, and environmental prospects our planet faces leads me to realize that in the US and globally, we have a conflict of interest.

Stephen Hall, 2017

Stephen Hall, born in Scotland, is an artist who takes a traditional approach to a modern subject. Now living in New York, his work is indicative of a surging talent which has been refined over many years. Each of his paintings is a composition of numerous layers, executed without any modern trickery such as digital assistance or an airbrush and the resulting lush density of color and variation of light owns the viewer’s attention.​

Through his work, Stephen explores the relationships we have with not just each other, but times, places and surroundings - couple this with a desire to portray the underlying order in our increasingly chaotic lives and you end up with vivid, yet somewhat intoxicating imagery, finished with a slick style and intense precision. Over the past several years has become more interest in the threat posed by man on our environment and the wildlife living in it.

Stephen has not only been exhibiting worldwide since the early 80’s, but his work also resides in corporate and private collections and has been featured in movies, music videos and magazines. On top of this he has also illustrated book covers for A.A. Milne, J.G. Ballard and Russell Greenan amongst others.

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