Richard Hall

For 35 years, Richard Hall enjoyed a successful career in fine art, using his talents to explore the opposing worlds of abstract art and traditional still life. But chance intervened when a mischievous toddler added her two-cents worth to one of Richard’s still life settings, prompting Richard to see his work in an entirely new way. (Read more below)

The incident occurred in 2010 when Richard entered his home studio to find that his still life setup of vintage hand tools had been augmented with a plastic dump truck and driver by his young granddaughter, who had carefully placed the small toy in the thick of the scene.

Intrigued by the juxtaposition between the weathered tools and the bright plastic, Richard tinkered with the display until he got the idea for The Great Escape – wherein a brave dump truck driver starts a Rube Goldberge-esque process in motion to rescue his toolbox-imprisoned friends.

Since the artist was already “breaking the rules” for appropriate still life subject matter, Richard decided to step even further outside the genre by incorporating an abstract background. The artistic union was complete: still life precision, abstract art vibrancy, and Richard’s cheeky British humor – all in one painting.

Richard assumed that his collectors wouldn’t be interested in The Great Escape, fearing they would find the lighthearted subject matter to be frivolous. He was in for a surprise when the painting sold before the varnish was even dry.

Since this time, Richard has been delighting collectors nationwide who enjoy his masterful technique and laugh-out-loud wordplay..

“I’ve had people burst into tears when they see a painting that triggers a memory and also had people burst into laughter when they see the humor in an image,” Richard says. “Knowing that people have such a personal reaction to the work is the best part of my career."