FROM THE STREATHAM HILL THEATRE - EARLY WORK
FROM THE REGENT SALOON 2001-2003
“Powerful, dramatic works of unflinching emotional intensity”: first thoughts on seeing Roxana Halls’ new paintings opening at Beaux Arts Bath. Despite an obvious debt to the old masters - whence she presumably learned her enjoyment of paint and sumptuous use of colour, (Dutch 17th century crossed with Caravaggesque chiaroscuro) – her works are modern and uncompromising. The highly personal subject matter, for instance...the way that relationships and situations are held up for scrutiny; a directness and honesty which is often stark and challenging.
Her paintings are awash with clues and references; again, perhaps, a throwback to the code needed to appreciate the masterpieces of an earlier age. “Lucky Strike” tells a fascinating story, the setting drawn from Roxana’s own splendid Art Deco theatre/studio (luxurious/hard-edged) which was (glamorous/poised, gas-masked model) bombed. Even her still lives...carry a disquieting narrative, and hint at great crisis followed by new beginnings and high hopes.
Roxana was, in 2000, the youngest artist to have been given a solo exhibition at Beaux Arts and it is astonishing that her passionate, stunning works have not yet received full recognition."
Moira Rudolf, Galleries Magazine
FROM THE BAVARIAN BUFFET 1999 - 2000
"Roxana Halls’ latest exhibition at Beaux Arts is an unsettling affair.
Her superbly executed paintings depict, in the main, women…women whose
scattering of 1940s female props (handbags, gloves) belies their air of defiance or even contribute to it. A determined stare, a jutting jaw, these are strong women with stories which shout from the canvas in spite of the cover-up job faces covered with hair, greasepaint, even a gas mask. Even Ophelia, lying dead on broken glass, has a bold, undefeated quality.
A trace of lipstick on a cigarette, a closed, spotlit curtain: Halls’ images are enigmatic and intriguing, echoing the atmosphere of the old theatre which the artist has made her studio."
'Gallery Stages Intense Portrayal Of Women', Galleries, 2002.