Steven Alexander blogs about Alison Hall: East of Blue at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, New York, on view through July 31, 2015.

Alexander observes that show "reveals Hall's deep connection to the history of painting — the materials, processes, systems, and iconography, as well as the ritualized labor of traditional practice. While it might not be obvious to the viewer that each small panel is painstakingly built of many layers of sanded Venetian plaster, what is obvious is the utter sensuality of the resulting surface, and the delicacy and depth of the oil color ground. On top of, or into that ground, Hall uses graphite hash marks and lines to create intricate rhythmic patterns that are at once translucent, physical, and constantly shifting with the viewer's position."