Christopher Hall

A History of Artist Statements

A. Art Statement 2019 –

Art statements are often pretentious and self-serving. Sometimes they are not.

Physical things no longer intrigue. Unless it is of a particular significance, it only serves to provide yet more clutter to a world already full of it.  Be mindful what you create.

The job of the artist is to provide wonder to the world, though this gets more difficult as each year goes by. Try to stay cheerful. Don’t give up.

B. Artist Statement 2016 - 2019

I care, I am hopeful; I want to do good things, but always on my own terms.

I navigate back and forth between a myriad of different polarities... whatever suits my needs at a particular time and place.  I lace my satire with a sense of sincerity, and my idealism with a dash of doubt. I am a dark optimist, an illusion maker and an illusion breaker.  I am where I am not.  As soon as you think you might have me figured out, that is when I slip away and when I move to some other place.  I am a champion wrestler.  You will never pin me down.

Construction, deconstruction, construction again; I've almost perfected the art of healing.

Forgetting the past, moving through the present, and always with an eye towards the future.

Transcendence.  Resurgens.

C. Artist Statement from 2006 – 2016                     

“The Enlightenment will come to a bad end. The brain is too heavy and the pelvis much too frivolous.” Oscar Kokoschka.

Humanity, with all its foibles, strivings, successes, and sins, is infinitely more interesting to me than anything that is polished, perfected, theoretical, or removed. My work is a search for meaning and purpose, but not always in the heroic sense. The generosity of my work serves to expose a process of imperfection, celebrating our flawed human nature as both bawdy and beautiful.

I seek to understand the past, make sense of the present, and search for paths leading to a brighter future by way of being critical of Modernist and Postmodernist tendencies in art today. I seek to combine the drama, spiritual longing, and beauty of Abstract Expressionism, the playful aspects found in much of Outsider art, and the critical eye of contemporary art practices. I seek to merge the humble and the heroic, the sacred and the profane. Above all I seek to communicate myself and have myself understood.

D. Artist Statement from 1999 - 2006

I paint because I haven’t any choice but to. It is a strange kind of possession, something very primitive, preternatural, supernatural even, that burns through my blood. It oozes slow like lava and boils over, suddenly exploding, like a volcano. It is the occasional earthquake of the soul that has to be dealt with. Art is my way of making sense of the world; it is catharsis. I paint because if I did not, I would be a detriment to society. I’d probably burn your house down. Art allows me an outlet that safeguards me physically, mentally and spiritually. Art allows me to explore avenues of experience that would otherwise be denied to me because of poverty, law, and the physical limits of humanity. Art is absolute freedom and absolute freedom is what I live for. I don’t want my art to reflect life, I want it to be life, always growing, unpredictable, and out of control.

E. Artist Statement from 1994 - 1998

(No beauty without danger. Cathartic expressions from the subconscious. Using negative energies to produce positive results, inevitably discovering the gray areas between the black and white. Very much a learning process)

2 X 2 = 4        

-2 X -2 = 4

F.  Artist Statement from 1990 – 1994

(Disillusioned Romantic). I don’t know what I like . . . I know what I don’t like. But what does it matter . . . the world is going to blow up in a few years anyways. (Smells Like Teen Spirit).

Best to retreat to nature.

G. Artist Statement from 1985 - 1990

I like learning about history, and drawing pictures of historical events, things like Civil War battle scenes. Sailing ships and airplanes make good subjects, and drawing from baseball cards and pictures of rock stars. (Eventually killed off those idols).

H.  Artist Statement from 1980 – 1985

That isn’t how you draw a battleship. This is how you draw a battleship. Notice that this battleship has more guns on it. (Seems logical).

I. Artist Statement from 1975 – 1980

I meant to color outside the lines.

(Born December 16th, 1975, with a crayon in my hand).