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.
