D.J. Hall - Nocturne

Contemporary painter DJ Hall’s Nocturne pays homage to peer artist and Neo-expressionist Eric Fischl’s famous 1982 work Barbecue, in which a young boy fills the foreground with a flame pouring out of his mouth as his grinning father commandeers a grill behind him near the pool. Only in Hall’s version, as in all of her pieces, the primary subject is a female and the world is one of her own making. 

A single sparkler is lit by a gorgeous young woman at a table strewn with signs of Southern California revelry: fiesta ware, fruit, and the anticipatory margarita glasses. The serene evening scene comes alive with the ambience of midcentury modern paradise as the artist herself, sits coolly in the background, enjoying a sip while dipping her toes into the cool water.

Hall’s signature paintings emphasize an idyllic lifestyle synonymous with Southern California, inspired by the artist’s earliest sun-speckled poolside memories. Although her hyper-detailed work draws upon the foundations of photorealism, each piece is actually a highly contrived composite of both real and imagined scenarios. Hall’s process often involves a live photo shoot with models, after which she edits and reassembles the visual information in order to produce a painting that sparkles with a more extraordinary sense of magical reality. In Hall’s vivid worlds, we find a diary of images where leisurely people momentarily freeze the passage of time and enjoy the fleeting, joyous moments of a life well lived.

For a closer look at this painting and a short virtual gallery tour, please enjoy the video above. For more information on Hall and her work, we welcome you to visit online here.

"Nocturne"
Oil on Canvas, 2004
76" x 47", framed 78" x 49"
Price on request or log into your my.hohmann.art account
More information about the artist: www.hohmann.art/hall