Chase Hall at David Kordansky Gallery

At Chase Hall‘s exhibition at David Kordansky Gallery, you will see a lot of grinning faces beaming back at you. Portraits of rugby players, equestrians, surfers, and other athletes are portrayed with humble grandiosity. There are also groups of people depicted in the paintings — groups of men in brightly colored suits or overalls, community gathered in front of a brick building — huddling together as if posing for a family portrait. This combination of subjects suggests a link between athletes — who fight for victory on their respective playing fields alongside teammates — with the role that community plays in our everyday lives. 

Hall’s handling of paint is a significant aspect of these works, each figure is depicted with heavily patterned attire, using the negative white space of the canvas behind the figures to articulate the creases and shadows of their clothing. Bright reds, purples, and muted earth tones abut each other in the pattern of heavy and active surfaces. The artist, significantly, uses coffee in these works to stain various sections of each painting, looping in themes of trade and commerce. The exhibition takes up the traditional mantle of portraiture, yet adds a certain type of expressionist mark-making that adds whimsy and subtle narrative to the works.

Photo: Chase Hall, The Future and The Past (God is Us) (detail), 2024. Acrylic and coffee on cotton canvas, 72 x 288 inches. Photo: Christopher Stach, courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery.