Veneer, Hall’s most recent series, is perhaps the most urgent of her works in its forewarning of the dire consequences of our continued destruction of the natural world. Comprising a series of paintings on tapa (or barkcloth), Veneer depicts a murky, dystopian world – an apocalyptic wasteland strewn with felled trees and human skulls.

Exhibition Dates: 26 June – 26 July 2014

Fiona Hall is one of Australia’s most accomplished, innovative and individual artists and has been selected to represent Australia at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015. Fiona Hall has worked across a range of art forms: from sculpture, painting and installation to video work, public commissions and horticulture.

Her work is remarkable for its meticulousness and beauty, and for its transformation of everyday, inconsequential items – aluminium cans, paper, plastic, soap and other detritus – into objects of exquisite beauty and historical and contemporary resonance.

Hall’s overriding interest is the complex relationship between humans and the natural world, and her works have variously addressed colonialism, consumerism, globalisation, natural history and the environment – important issues yet ones that are engaged with in always alluring, alchemical form.

Veneer, Hall’s most recent series, is perhaps the most urgent of her works in its forewarning of the dire consequences of our continued destruction of the natural world. Comprising a series of paintings on tapa (or barkcloth), Veneer depicts a murky, dystopian world – an apocalyptic wasteland strewn with felled trees and human skulls. Yet despite the magnitude of the devastation, the paintings are compelling rather than heavy handed, infused with the very materiality – wood, bark, earth, fire, ash and smoke – of the environment they depict.

Skulls – a recurring symbol in Hall’s work – abound in Veneer, where they line up ghoulishly as if in a mass grave, merge with the rings of cut-down trees, or dissolve into the works’ wood-grain painted surface. The implication is clear: rampant environmental destruction leads to death.

Claire Armstrong, June 2014


In 2015 Fiona Hall will represent Australia at the 56th Venice Biennale. In 2013, a major survey exhibition, Big Game Hunting, was held at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (curated by Kendrah Morgan). She has been included in many other important group exhibitions and biennales over the past two decades. These include dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel, Germany 2012, The Biennale of Sydney (2000 and 2010); The Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow (2009); DeOverkant/Downunder, Den Haag Sculpture, Netherlands (2007); Prism: Contemporary Australian Art at the Bridgestone Museum, Tokyo (2006); Fieldwork: Australian Art 1968 – 2002 at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2002); and Perspecta at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (1997). A retrospective of Fiona Hall’s work was held by Queensland Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of South Australia in 2005 and in 2008 the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney held a survey exhibition of her work, Fiona Hall: Force Field, which toured to the City Gallery in Wellington New Zealand. Fiona Hall’s work has been collected in depth by all the major Australian museums. Hall was awarded an Order of Australia (AO) in 2013 for her distinguished service to the visual arts, and in 2012, Hall was awarded the Australia Council’s highest honour, the Visual Arts Laureate Award. Fiona Hall has been represented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery since 1995.

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Fiona Hall Far Side, 2013; painted wooden carpenter's rulers, Blackberry mobile device; 280 x 182 x 40 cm; enquire
Far Side, 2013
painted wooden carpenter's rulers, Blackberry mobile device
280 x 182 x 40 cm
Fiona Hall Last Man Standing, 2013; bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes; 205 x 155 cm; enquire
Last Man Standing, 2013
bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes
205 x 155 cm
Fiona Hall In a Dark Wood, 2013; bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes; 164 x 123 cm; enquire
In a Dark Wood, 2013
bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes
164 x 123 cm
Fiona Hall Skin in the Game, 2013; bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes; 140 x 126 cm; enquire
Skin in the Game, 2013
bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes
140 x 126 cm
Fiona Hall Cut Throat Karma, 2013; bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes; 134 x 127 cm; enquire
Cut Throat Karma, 2013
bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes
134 x 127 cm
Fiona Hall Flame Throwers, 2013; bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes; 290 x 235 cm; enquire
Flame Throwers, 2013
bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes
290 x 235 cm
Fiona Hall Cage, 2013; bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes; 250 x 260 cm; enquire
Cage, 2013
bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes
250 x 260 cm
Fiona Hall Take No Prisoners, 2013; bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes; 230 x 240 cm; enquire
Take No Prisoners, 2013
bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes
230 x 240 cm
Fiona Hall Hand Over Fist, 2013; bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes; 180 x 195 cm; enquire
Hand Over Fist, 2013
bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes
180 x 195 cm
Fiona Hall Man with Long Memory, 2013; bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes; 220 x 285 cm; enquire
Man with Long Memory, 2013
bark cloth with earth pigments and plant dyes
220 x 285 cm
Fiona Hall Lucky Country Man, 2014; Australian military camouflage shirt, dice, deactivated bullet, dice, pool ball, light switch, glass, keys; 92 x 57 x 10 cm; enquire
Lucky Country Man, 2014
Australian military camouflage shirt, dice, deactivated bullet, dice, pool ball, light switch, glass, keys
92 x 57 x 10 cm
Fiona Hall Untitled, 2014; light switch, driftwood; 62 x 15.5 x 27.5 cm; enquire
Untitled, 2014
light switch, driftwood
62 x 15.5 x 27.5 cm
Fiona Hall Untitled, 2014; pool balls, animal hoof, radiator hose; 30 x 30 x 23.5 cm; enquire
Untitled, 2014
pool balls, animal hoof, radiator hose
30 x 30 x 23.5 cm
Fiona Hall Untitled, 2014; pool balls, deer teeth, wooden ornaments, paint; 22 x 18 x 11 cm; enquire
Untitled, 2014
pool balls, deer teeth, wooden ornaments, paint
22 x 18 x 11 cm
Fiona Hall Untitled, 2014; carburetor, deer teeth, paint; 20 x 15 x 8.5 cm; enquire
Untitled, 2014
carburetor, deer teeth, paint
20 x 15 x 8.5 cm
Fiona Hall Untitled [Out of my tree], 2014; aluminium, burnt books; 152 x 120 x 59.5 cm; enquire
Untitled [Out of my tree], 2014
aluminium, burnt books
152 x 120 x 59.5 cm