“Through life’s many changes and challenges, it is revealed that through our pain and adversity we build our greatest strengths…” Diane Hall
In her twenties, Diane Hall studied Chinese brush painting under several Zen masters. She uses traditional techniques masterfully blended with a contemporary sensibility to create works that are Western in their abstraction but Eastern in their Zen balance.
Hall’s starkly beautiful pieces in the 20/20 show are individual works of art; but they work together fabulously as a group. The four form a narrative that reads from left to right. Beginning with Prevailing Darkness, to Seeking Light, through Finding Balance to final Solace, they chronicle years during which Hall’s husband struggled with and eventually succumbed to frontal temporal dementia. We don’t need to know this story to feel the power of these pieces, however. In the gallery, viewers are immediately and instinctively drawn to their minimalism and mystery. The progression of the visual narrative, from complexity to simplicity, feels right and natural. We respond to it intuitively. And intellectually we understand the technical virtuosity and the years of experience that go into the choices Hall makes – this line precisely here, that one there. As usual, the pictures don’t do the work justice. You must come see for yourself.
