Carry Moyer on Blalla W. Hallmann at Thomas Erben
Blalla W. Hallmann, Vater, Vater, warum haßt Du mich verlassen! (Father, Father, why Hate You Forsaken Me!) 1990, acrylic on glass, 120 × 110 cm.
The show already closed, but Carrie Moyer’s review of it in Gay City News is too good not to link. Here is my favorite part:
Rooted in folk art, reverse painting on glass is a poor man’s stained glass. The process flattens an image, pressing it up against the surface while the viewer’s reflection places her within the picture plane. Hallmann’s pictures are further simplified by the repeated use of forced perspective, bright cartoon color and black grounds, giving his work a ferocity and directness. Hallmann’s self-conscious adoption of various outsider and folk genres is particularly resonant at this moment when the “untrained” aesthetic favored by so many contemporary, academically-trained painters has come to represent a fetishized sign for authenticity.
HallmannÂ’s paintings make one realize how stealthy and insidious the taint of self-censorship is. Given the current state of global affairs, one might rightfully expect more visual bile and outrage to emanate from AmericaÂ’s art studios. Yet the art worldÂ’s cozy relationship with the political left looks polite, self-serving, and parochial next to HallmannÂ’s rude declarations.
Note: That’s not a typo above in the work’s title. He used puns and other purposeful “mistakes” in his titles.
