SELF PORTRAITS
Self portraiture has always formed an integral part of Roxana Halls' work.
These self portraits are fragments from an autobiography that is a story only occasionally told in realist mode. There is much that seems fictional, or fantastical, but they are all scenes from the narrative of a life unfolding in pictures.
Indeed, most of Halls' paintings are bound to this developing story, whether they depict the protagonist herself, other characters, unpopulated locations or simply objects- found or made.
The works 'Nude' and 'Absence' in particular received notable critical acclaim when they, as well as other works in subsequent years, were exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery's B.P. Portrait Award.
"In the National Portrait Gallery’s annual exhibition of young painters’ work I have for some years now always looked first for Roxana’s offering. She has never won the prize she so much deserves, but that has been the fault of shallow judges who in haste have failed to recognise her discerning draughtsmanship and honest ability to paint, who have not read the eerie narratives behind the portraiture, who have been too dull-witted to share her passionate melancholy."
Brian Sewell