I am drawn to the tight details that gather in the distance of some of these works, as well as the fluidity of the interactions between the coffee and acrylics. Just now I am discovering the pigment is coffee and naturally I really want to smell it; as I closely approach the painting I stand in front of, the gallery is seemingly, suddenly beginning to empty and I am rushing to get the last of my images, so I can gather some thoughts while standing outside the gallery looking in through the towering window panes with the other friends and artists and attendees.

When I’m taking the last of my images I hear a woman describing the video gone viral, that reached my feed just yesterday,  of a man witnessing a whale with its tail jutting straight up out of the water.

While exiting I am simultaneously lingering listening to this person talk about the video in a way I am hoping to relate to this painting titled, Jarvis and The Grey, and find a connection besides the verticality of both. The video, if you haven’t seen it (me explaining to you,  recounting how she is explaining it to another person in the room) is of this dude, and he’s a white dude (a detail she included) in a transparent kayak observing this whale, HUGE, with its tail coming right up out of the water, holding that position so still for so long. He is wigging out about it because he has never seen this behavior before, also it is happening at a magnificent proximity….mere feet away. There was a calf that was swimming circles around the whale below the surface. 

I was no longer in ear shot as I moved outside. 

Maybe she just wanted to talk about that video because the painting reminded her of it and that was it. I feel inclined to draw a relationship between the phenomenon of the video with the phenomena of these paintings and that that woman and I both thought about that viral video recently.

This one is titled, Whitewash (Pelicanus Occidentalis); the latter term the specie name for the Brown Pelican, the former more recognizable term referencing the adoption of the American lifestyle by POC, disassociating from one’s ancestral culture by way of erasure and experienced distance; by means of survival and finding sense of belonging. A complex and stark reality. 

The press release mentions a painting called Bather in Surf (Acting White) I cannot find on the checklist or on the internet. 

Thinking of the water and the dripping motifs alongside everyone gathering and chatting outside the large window panes about how it feels like a sauna outside; I intensely agree. The transition from crisp, steady, white cube air control, to the heat of the streets has a thick effect on my body in space. 

I reflect on the idea of Bathers throughout art history, and the bareness of these paintings that bleed right into the surface of their substraight — cotton canvas. I will find out later when I do a deeper dive that Hall is considered an “outsider artist” since he has had no formal training as an artist. It reminds me of the human ability to express oneself physically from the depth of our connection and attuned-ness to our surroundings and culture. I wish I had shown up earlier to experience the freedom and vulnerability of his show for a little longer. I’ll think about the way these paintings are built for a long time.