On September 6 I drove from Roanoke to downtown Richmond to attend the Reynolds Gallery opening for three artists including Alison Hall’s show “for the white bird.”

I lived in Richmond briefly about ten years ago and it was so cool to drive through the downtown fan again. Richmond is really hip! There were beautiful eccentric people walking on the sidewalks and there were murals painted on almost every building.

So I approached Reynolds Gallery- it looked like a nice townhouse turned into a gallery. I walked in the front door and was warmly greeted by Alice Livingston, the director of the gallery.

Of the three artists showing I was especially taken with Alison Hall’s pieces. Her pictures (with the exception of one white floor piece) are so dark and soft- they gave me the feeling of being almost asleep or in the middle of a deep meditation. She works with paint and plaster and graphite. The graphite drawn on top of the dark paint shimmers in a really magical way.

John Yau of Hyperallergic reviewed a different show of Alison Hall’s work. His words helped me wrap my mind around what I was seeing when standing in front of one of Alison’s pieces. Yau writes that Hall paints “as a form of liturgical enactment” and that she and some others like her are “invested in an exalted state of seeing and weren’t put off by the idea of infinity.”

I liked her work as it is shown on her website but seeing them in person is an experience that really cannot be had online. I highly recommend an in-person visit.