FROM THE BLUE BAR 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.