Anthony hall, Artist
Posing in the studio in September 2024 before planning on the completion of new works.
In the studio Summer 2024 taking inventory on recently completed works.
Anthony Hall is self-taught artist born, raised and working out of San Francisco, California. His paintings, sculptures and sound work draw inspiration from his childhood experiences and lived environments growing up in San Francisco, CA.
His recent art practice has focused on remembering experiences in his childhood that add to the general dialog of the Black population and history in San Francisco. Speaking to childhood peers that grew up in similar circumstances now adults reminiscing on their shared histories, he realized his story was a part of a curious fabric of events similar in nature and only separated by their various specific familial circumstances. He decided to explore these events more closely through memories, comparing lived environments then and now, and observing sequences of events that have led to many societal circumstances of today. Through this mode research and attention to memories, Anthony has also discovered an imaginative expression, a “what if” or alternate states of being in San Francisco and the world at large, free of any constraints the many layers of memories can induce.
Sometimes the visual result of his work is expressed as social commentary with some recognizable visual elements; other times it is completely abstract with vibrant color or line work to express a concept or theme. The many neighborhood characteristics in his youth were he first recognition of patterns - the power lines throughout the neighborhoods sparking as the Muni trains hummed by; the lyrical patterns of tire marks in the street; the fluorescent construction markings of arrows, letters and numbers on the concrete.
The materials he uses in the painting and sculpture works are often repurposed elements found outside the studio to bring on a expressive new life, a welcomed challenge of detaching materials from its former intended life into a thoughtful presence.
Updating a painting from 2020, “Many Other Silhouettes Were Seen Entering False Houses”, after it’s removal from storage. This work was selected for the 2020 de Young Open Exhibit in San Francisco, CA. (September 2024)
Anthony Hall - CV
b. 1986, San Francisco, California, USA
Exhibition History
Solo Exhibitions:
2019 “tensions” - Avenue 12 Gallery, San Francisco CA
Group Exhibitions:
2022 “Chasing Dreams”, African American Arts & Culture Complex, San Francisco, CA
2020 “The de Young Open”, de Young Museum - San Francisco, CA
2020 “SWANK” exhibition presented by amanda flowers - Los Angeles, CA
2016 “Viral:RK25 - 25 Years from Rodney King”, Betti Ono Gallery - Oakland, CA
2016 “First Edition”, 1:AM Oakland – Oakland, CA
2015 "Friends with Karma" Group Exhibition, Pro Arts Gallery - Oakland, CA
2014 "Artists Who Inspire You" Group Exhibition, Pro Arts Gallery - Oakland, CA
Fairs:
2017 Other Arts Fair - London, UK