Susan Hall
UPCOMING SHOWS:
"The Nomadic Studio"
Depaul University Museum
2350 N. Kenmore Ave., Chicago IL 60614
773-325-7506
July 8-November 21
AVaerie: opening August 12
Depaul Art Museum
Group Exhibition
Lark & Key Gallery
Charlotte, NC
August 6 - Sept 25
Figurative works by Susan Hall, Duy Huynh, Elizabeth D'Angelo & Paula Smith
Lark & Key Gallery
Anniversary Group Show
Butter Gallery
520 NW Davis St.
Portland, OR
August 5-28
Butters Gallery
JABBERWOCKY
Callooh! Callay! A shadow puppet play!
THURSDAY JUNE 10th 8:30pm
B.Y.O.C. (Bring your own chair)
•Roasted marshmallows will follow after performance•

3 BROS AUTO REPAIR
3722 W. Belmont Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618-5226
REVIEWS:
Chicago Tribune
ART: REVIEWS

By Alan G. Artner
Tribune art critic
Published September 22, 2006

Susan Hall's recent paintings at the Melanee Cooper Gallery provide images of women caught in tranquil or introspective situations. The model for this is the art of Jan Vermeer, though one sees possible later influences including Symbolist painting of the 1890s and Ingmar Bergman's 1966 film "Persona."

The Symbolist connection comes through the oil on panel titled "Nocturne," which depicts a covered sleeper in blue-white light. The light, as in nearly all of the pictures, is bright but softened by the superimposition of various all-over decorative patterns derived from wallpaper or lace. These give the sensation of viewing the figure through a screen that in "Nocturne" successfully suggests the muffled fantasy of sleep.

"Persuasion" has two women shown side by side, apparently partially nude. Some sort of urging or convincing is taking place, but who is the active figure and who the one being induced remains as vague as what is being urged. Here the peaks and pocks of thick paint combined with brighter color -- a peach-orange -- convey less than a serene atmosphere, and if still subdued, the break in Hall's calm is welcome.

Her newest pieces are of lone women wading in water. These have patterns embossed or incised, too, though treating more of the figures outside eliminates the earlier claustrophobia and some of the artist's characteristic softening.

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Nashville Scene
Critics' Picks, January 18, 2007

SUSAN HALL A painter from Chicago, Hall's current work overlays lovingly rendered human figures with the detailed patterns of lace and vintage wall coverings. The figures, mostly women, have a contemplative quality that recalls the quiet moments in 17th century Dutch painting or the 19th century Pre-Raphaelites. Her work takes obvious pleasure in both the human face and form, and in the intricate patterns traditionally made by women and found in the domestic realm. Hall's works are on display at Gallery One through Feb. 17. There's a reception for the artist 6 to 8 p.m. Jan. 20.

—David Maddox

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The Tennesean
Friday, 01/19/07 Nashville, Tennessee

Look behind the veils

Looking at a painting by Chicago artist Susan Hall, the featured artist in Gallery One's latest exhibit, is akin to peering through a gauzy curtain: Bathed in a warm glow, these female figures lie underneath a layer of lace or some other decorative pattern that has been worked into the surface.

With her experience in printmaking, Hall brings the nuances of texture to her oil paintings, and the resulting works beg the viewer to consider his or her relationship to the image: It's easy to feel a little like a voyeur gawking at these women, with their furtive or contemplative poses. Hall's decision to place these figures behind lacy patterns also can be read as a meditation on trappings of femininity -- the veils, both literal and figurative, that have effectively cut women off from the society of men.

The show opens with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday and runs through Feb. 17. Gallery One is in Belle Meade Galleria, 5133 Harding Road. For more information, call (615) 352-3006 or visit www.galleryone.biz.

— JONATHAN MARX, STAFF WRITER

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