Ornament
Union Street Gallery press release
Sharon Hall's paintings remain difficult to categorise. On the one hand they explore a potential for narrative content through her use of imagery, while on the other, a deep rooted concern with purely optical and formal devices remains extremely important. These oppositions are set up in a variety of ways, sometimes in the one canvas or even related pieces within a series (the Roma series for instance where image and linear ground are separated out.) Such a dialogue appears to explore the 'forgetfulness' of the modernist autonomous object, and the attempt to hold on to a possibility of retrieving some form of 'truth content' from the distant past. Where this is located is within the array of images, always seemingly fragmented or inconspicuous, yet painted with the belief that something can be unlocked...
David Ryan
1994