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| American Still Life" acrylic on canvas 40" x 60" 2013 |
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| "Calavera" acrylic on canvas 24" x 32" 2013 |
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| "Don't Hold Your Breath" acrylic on canvas 60" x 30" 2013 |
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| "Leap Frog" acrylic on canvas 60" x 36" 2013 |
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| "Sinner" acrylic on canvas 32" x 44" 2013 |
Here's a different take on the pop-surrealism front. Flat graphic designs depicting a bewildering array of ordinary and bizarre objects from eggbeaters to brass knuckles which are superimposed upon backgrounds, other objects, clothes or even human flesh. If it is not entirely clear what the references mean or how they relate, well, don't worry about it too much. Let the odd juxtapositions exist for their own sake and measure your response
subjectively. There is humor here as well as a dark pessimism. Nature flits about the devices of human violence but their relationship is not always clear. This is the heart of surrealism. Dreams create symbols by reordering context. Metaphor is not analogy.
This does not represent
that. Metaphor means one thing can be interpreted as almost anything else. The human mind is designed to makes novel connections and unlikely associations and in so doing discover new meanings. Art in this sense is always a participatory affair. Though the artist works in private the art itself is not complete until new eyes receive it and reinterpret it outside that intentions of its creator. So what do
you think is going on? The success of such work depends on it's ability to arrest our attention and successfully invite us to play with its ideas.
You can see more at the artist's website:
www.stephenhallart.com
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