Works by Brent Hallard
Brent Hallard is an Australian-born abstract artist, curator and writer whose works on paper and aluminum explore minimalist iconography and monochromatic expressions.
His work fluctuates between precise, formal examinations of geographic shapes and more playful, idiosyncratic creations.
He is currently living and working in Byron Bay, Australia.
Education
Brent Hallard earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1990 and went on to earn his Master of Arts from the University of New South Wales in 1992.
Technique
Using mediums such as markers, watercolors and acrylics, Hallard constructs monochromatic and semi-monochromatic images of recognizable geometric forms such as squares and rectangles on paper and aluminum.
The work often consists of simple forms and clusters of forms, and at other times it escapes the boundaries of line and shape.
Hallard tends to focus on work that conveys precision and exactitude, while also flirting with looser explorations of color and form, creating more experimental geometric abstractions that invite additional layers of interaction from the viewer.
Inspiration
The artist works with the themes of space and geometry, manipulating images and arrangements of objects in order to challenge the perception of the viewer.
His work is deeply rooted in the fundamentals of art history, especially building on the tendencies of abstraction, minimalism and the color field artists.
The work also maintains a certain human quality, incorporating a sense of openness and frivolity suggesting an underlying freedom from formal limitations.
Relevant quotes
Kate Mothes of the Young Space Art Blog said of Brent Hallard's work:
"The paintings...are wonderfully simple. The edges are so distinct and the colors so bright that they very nearly press into optical territory. Some of his pieces are perfectly symmetrical, yet the boundaries shift as we run our eyes from segment to segment, stripe to stripe, as the color plays slight tricks on our eyes. He seems to commit to symmetrical, hard-edged abstraction and then in the next instance make a work...that seems to say he knows these are expected to be hard-edged paintings, but see? Sometimes they're not. And to prove it, he'll color outside the lines."
Notable distinctions
Founder of the Visual Discrepancies Art Blog
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sulman Prize, Juried exhibition, 1986
Exhibitions
Hallard has widely exhibited in a number of solo and group exhibitions in the USA, Europe and Asia. His work has also been included in several museum exhibitions nationally and in the Netherlands.
Selected Exhibitions
2018
Wave, curated, BSA Project Space, Northern Rivers
2 x 2, group show, Olsen Gallery, Sydney
Load, Solo show, Five Walls, Melbourne
2017
0ppler, curated by Mel Prest, Transmitter Gallery, Brooklyn
Mixed Tape, Palmer Art Projects, Sydney
Chromatopia, curated by Louis Blyton, Melbourne
100 years after De Stijl, Openlucht Museum De Lakenhal
Visual Discrepancy, curated for Crawford Gallery, Sydney (2 person)
Trans, curated by Kyle Jenkins, Raygun Projects, Toowoomba
Samenhang, with Jasper van der Graaf and the collection of Camiel Andriessen, Het Kunstgemaal, Netherlands
Dirty Filthy Painting, curated by Michael Cusak, BSA Project Space, Northern Rivers
Line and Space curated by Suzie Idiens, Crawford Gallery, Sydney
Colour and Form, Olsen Gallery, Sydney Contemporary 17, Sydney
The Shape of Things curated for Artpiece, Mullumbimbi
2016
Drawing Conversations, National Art School, East Sydney
Connect & Collect, SJICA, San Jose, CA
Lavender Strike, Conny Dietzschold Gallery, Sydney
The White Collection, Conny Dietzschold Gallery
Hydrography lll, LaKaserna Artspace, Bad Nieuweschans, Netherlands (curated by Henriëtte van't Hoog and Iemke van Dijk)
Engaged Drawing, curated Beatrice Bea, Yifat Gat, Artothèque, Miramas
2015
Nolan Projects, organized by John Adair, Nolan Foundation, Wales, UK
Volume, curated by Mary Judge and Enrico Gomez, Schema Projects, New York
Formal Watercolor, Museum Waterland, Purmerend, Netherlands, curated by Piet Knook
Territory of Abstraction, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, curated by Christine Pfister
Paperazzi 4, Janet Kurnowski Gallery, New York
2014
un·bound·ed, bi-coastal and international show focusing on conceptual & reductive practices, Root Division, San Francisco
Doppler Shift, curated by Mary Birmingham, New Art Center, New Jersey
Abstract Realities, Jan Van de Ploeg, Brent Hallard, Richard Van der Aa University of Southern Queensland
Dressed in Pink, Raygun Art Projects, Southern Queensland
Hard-Edge Abstraction, curated by Kasarian Dane and Catherine Tedford, Richard F. Brush Art Gallery at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York
Paperazzi 3, Janet Kurnowski Gallery, New York
2013
Sydney Non Objective Turns 100, SNO Contemporary Art Projects, Sydney, Australia
The Big small Graphic Art Show, Graphic Studio Daglicht Eindhoven
LIGHT SPACE PROJECTS 2013: Rituals of Exhibition II by The Talent Agency, H Gallery Chiang Mai, Thailand
DOPPLER, curated by Mel Prest, Parallel Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
Hydrography - Abstract in Watercolor, De Vishal, Haarlem, The Netherlands, curated by Iemke van Dijk and Henriëtte van 't Hoog.
Rituals of Exhibition curated by Gilbert Hsiao and Giles Ryder Don't Be Selfish, Phayao Thailand
Paperazzi 2 Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, New York
Right and Other Angles curated by Jeffrey Cortland Jones at Soft-spot
Never Underestimate a Monochrome organized by Mariángeles Soto-Díaz through Abstraction at Work Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art
2012
Index #3, publication and exhibition organized by Justin Andrews, Melbourne
Dripping Color Amazement, curated by Brent Hallard, Galerie oqbo, Berlin
Never Underestimate a Monochrome organized by Mariángeles Soto-Díaz through Abstraction at Work, sponsored by the University of Iowa Museum of Art
Doppler Stop, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Berlin and Zagreb?Supermarket 2012 IS Projects/SNO/PARISconcret, Stockholm?
Paparazzi, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2011
VOID289, UNVOID curated by Naoshi Okura KOBE Biennale, Japan
A Romance of Many Dimensions ?Brooklyn Artist's Gym, Brooklyn, NY
Saturation Point International Survey of Reductive Art, London
Gifting Abstraction Soho20 Chelsea Gallery, curated by Mariángeles Soto-Díaz, NY
Sugarmountain 2 Galerie van den Berge, curated by Clary Stolte, Goes, NL
Chase the Tear NIAD curated by Timothy Buckwalter, Richmond, CA
Recent Movements in Non-objective Art Reuten Galerie, NL
1st International Festival of Non-Objective Art Organized by Roland Orpük Pont de Claix, Grenoble, France
Plane Speaking McKenzie Fine Art, curated by Valerie McKenzie, NY
2010
Informal Relations Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (IMOCA), curated by Scott Grow
Touch + Paris ParisCONCRET
Hydrography: Abstracts in Watercolor RC de Ruimte in IJmuiden, curated by Iemke van Dijk and Henriëtte van ’t Hoog
25 x 25 traveling Sydney Melbourne, New IS-Projects box, curated by Guido Winkler
Fuzzy Logic Thompson Gallery The Cambridge School of Weston, MA
2009
Editionen aus Deutschland den Niederlanden und der Schweiz - Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung, Bonn GKG Bonn
Trans: Form | Color Meridian Gallery, San Francisco
Personal Space three person show with Richard Roth and Henriette van 't Hoog
parisCONCRET, Paris
Kosmos Light and Space curated by Guido Winkler Is projects, Leiden, curated
I-S Box
Trans:formal Pharmaka, Los Angeles
Pour faire simple parisCONCRET, Paris
2008
T-show Polverara, Italy
The Space Between San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
2007
Trans Weltraum, Marienplatz Munich
U-shape Minatomirai Yokohama
Solid Space storefront, Setagaya, Tokyo
New Wall Drawings Bus-Dori Projects, Tokyo
Visual Discrepancy, Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum, 2017, 100 years after De Stijl ,The Link, Architectural Magazine, Berlin,2017 Lavender Strike, Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum, 2016, Unbounded boxed set of prints 2014, essay by Joan Waltemath, Doppler Shift Catalog, 2014, Doppler NY 2013, Index 3 (publication), 2012, Doppler Europe 2012, Kunstbeed,Nr 9 Sugarmountain 2 2011, An Exercise in Seeing at Brooklyn Artist's Gym by Eric Sutphin, 2011 Catalogue Retour aux Bases / Back to Basics, Pont de Claix, Grenoble, San Francisco Chronicle November 2009, Abstract commingle well… Kenneth Baker, Peter Selz, "TRANS: Form|Color ", Exhibition Catalog Essay, Meridian, Gallery, San Francisco, The Space Between at SJICA Artweek June 2008 ARTKRUSH 2004 micro review by Christopher Elam, Chief Editor of Artkrush, Sydney Gay Games 2002 Review of Powerplay, Sydney Morning Herald October 1990. Fresh Art S.H. Irvine National Trust, Arts Editor, John McDonald Eastern Herald Art Review, Verisimilitudes, D.C. Art, Sydney Writer, Martine Ranby ArtLink, Spring 1994, Non-profits and their Artists Editorial Highlights Minimal Painting by Brent Hallard currently on show at FIRST DRAFT, SYDNEY EYELINE September 1988 Brisbane Art Publication. Brent Hallard -Imperfect Geometries. Interview with Adriane Boag, First Draft Director