Inside the Studio

Ronald Hall

Favorite material to work with?
Oil on Canvas

What is your medium?
I love working with oils and although my paintings don’t show it, I also love working with digital art.

What themes do you pursue?
Mostly African American themes and concerns.

How many years as an artist?
I get asked this question all the time, and my immediate response, in my mind, is to say my whole life. I can’t remember a time in my life, even as a child, when I wasn’t creating something in some way.

Sketchbook? Do you use one? What type?
I do sketches occasionally, when the image I’m creating calls for it, it really depends on the type of painting I’m currently doing. Some of my paintings required no sketching at all.

Most important tool you use?
This might sound crazy, but my computer is, I somehow can’t work without it! It helps me think, it helps me get out ideas quickly.

Where is your studio?
Currently my studio is in my two bed room apartment. I use the spare bedroom as my studio. I have dreams of some day designing and building my own studio.

What was the best advice given to you as an artist?
Be honest with yourself.

Why do you make art?
This might sound cliché, but I honestly feel that I have no choice! It’s like the air we breathe, if I don’t create something, I’m dead.

Art school or self-taught?
A little of both.

Tattoos?
None

Prefer to work with music or in silence?
Music, I love to work to music! All kinds, it depends on my mood for that day.

iTunes, spotify, records?
Itunes mostly

Everyone has a vice. Care to call yourself out?
Coffee, I gotta have it everyday!

What’s around the corner from your place?
Nothing interesting!

Favorite sound?
Music

Favorite smell?
Oil paint

Where can we find you outside the studio?
Walking my dog or playing basketball with friends.

What could you not do without?
A computer

If you couldn’t be an artist, what would you do?
I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Day job?
CG Artist for a video games development company.

Food or sleep?
Sleep

Greatest achievement?
Still waiting on this one.

Finish the sentence: “I would never be caught dead….”
Wearing socks with sandals.

Would you rather be able to make a living as an artist now or become famous after you die?
Both, but if I had to choose one, I would prefer to be able to make a living full-time now as a painter.

Were you popular in high school?
Only when I would draw, otherwise no.

Would you rather see your art on a t-shirt or on a billboard?
Definitely a billboard

Would you ever figure model naked?
Yes, but only in private.

Religion or pop culture?
Pop culture

Traditional or conceptual?
Conceptual

What do you collect?
Art books

Favorite contemporary artist?
It varies from year to year, but right now I really dig Neo Rauch.

A piece of art you love?
A painting by Basquiat titled, “Untitled (skull)” 1984, I love that painting.

Which living or dead artist would you most like to meet?
Jean Michel Basquiat.

Use anything other than paint?
Computer.

Oil or acrylic?
Oil

Figurative or abstract?
Figurative

Representational or Surreal?
Both

Photo references?
Yes

Favorite brush?
Sable

Palette knifes?
Only for mixing

What do you wear while you paint?
I like to paint with as little clothing on as comfortably possible, I need to feel free when I’m painting, and clothes and shoes can sometimes feel constricted.

Painting Inside or Outside?
Definitely inside.

Monet or Manet?
Manet