Birmingham Pride 2021: Painter Roxana Halls showcases collection at Reuben Colley Fine Art

Renowned figurative painter Roxana Halls is showcasing her new Crime Spree collection at the Reuben Colley Fine Art gallery on Colmore Row to coincide with Birmingham Pride 2021.
London based painter Roxana Halls will showcase her work at Reuben Colley Fine Art gallery for Birmingham Pride 2021 London based painter Roxana Halls will showcase her work at Reuben Colley Fine Art gallery for Birmingham Pride 2021
London based painter Roxana Halls will showcase her work at Reuben Colley Fine Art gallery for Birmingham Pride 2021

Through her oil paintings Roxana Halls has become one of the UK’s most exciting artists.

In her new collection, Crime Spree, women take control of their lives in extraordinary ways with her paintings showing women full of defiance and laughing in the face of what they have done or are about to do.

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And the Reuben Colley Fine Art gallery on Colmore Row will showcase her work to coincide with Birmingham Pride 2021.

Roxana’s collection will be on display this month from September 4 through to October 3.

She will be appearing in the gallery on the Saturday and Sunday of Pride weekend -September 24 and 25 - as part of the celebrations.

As a queer feminist artist, Halls says she expresses in her work the principles for which the Pride movement also stands: “Resistance in the face of prejudice, and celebration of the right to be whoever you want to be.”

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On the inspiration behind Crime Spree, Roxana said: “I’ve been reflecting on the prohibitions which are placed on women within society and the particular kind of opprobrium placed on women who misbehave. I want to paint what happens when they do.

“I’m always thinking about where and how women take up space and disrupt politeness, how they circumvent the impulse toward self-control and containment.

“There’s an element of violence and threat embedded within a lot of the Laughing works. Mostly the women have done something, or are doing something, catastrophic.

Laughing while Conducting, from Roxana’s new collection Crime Spree Laughing while Conducting, from Roxana’s new collection Crime Spree
Laughing while Conducting, from Roxana’s new collection Crime Spree

“Initially, they were doing it purposefully to free themselves from traps, that was my guiding principle, but, increasingly, I have started to think about threat and danger and how women might retaliate.

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“Women are not generally considered a threat, quite the opposite. Largely women go about the world observing the potential of threat and danger, are self-conscious and monitor their behaviour, because they are nervous in the world.

“It’s interesting to think about examples when women didn’t do that so I’ve been looking into vintage and historical gang culture, Victorian girl gangs, pipe-smoking women from the 40s, Teddy Girls; instances of women getting together in a pack and having an edge of threat and danger about them.”

Roxana Halls' work will be on display at the Reuben Colley Fine Art gallery from September 4 through to October 3Roxana Halls' work will be on display at the Reuben Colley Fine Art gallery from September 4 through to October 3
Roxana Halls' work will be on display at the Reuben Colley Fine Art gallery from September 4 through to October 3

Roxana has won many awards, including the Villiers David Prize, the Discerning Eye Founder’s Purchase Prize, the Derwent Special Prize and the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation.

Her work is held in both public and private collections, including the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and she has been selected for BP Portrait Award exhibitions and Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions.

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Roxana works from a studio in a disused theatre in London and has also been exhibiting regularly at Reuben Colley Fine Art for the last few years.

“We are excited to be welcoming back Roxana Halls to Birmingham for the month of September with a personal appearance during the Pride celebration weekend,” said a spokeswoman for the Reuben Colley Fine Art gallery

“In the year when Roxana was added to the National Gallery’s collection, this is an amazing opportunity to view this unique collection, and add a piece of this highly collectable artists work to your collection.”

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