Artist Statement:
Jeffrey Deane Hall

We live in an era flooded with information, yet the sheer volume often hinders our ability to process it all and extract meaning. In our contemporary pursuit of knowledge, there is just too much noise and not enough clarity.

My recent series of trompe l’oeil paintings explores this concept through stacked books viewed from above. The cropped edges of each book hint at partial knowledge and form flat abstracted planes of color and partial pieces of text, evoking the challenge of making sense of fragmented ideas.

These works also investigate the dangers of banning books and the threat censorship poses to intellectual freedom. Each painting focuses specifically on books challenged for addressing themes like gender identity, race, or the occult. These works serve as a reminder of how essential open access is to free expression and a civil and informed society.

Inspired by the abstractions of Josef Albers and Hans Hofmann, as well as William Harnett’s illusionistic trompe l’oeil paintings, I aim to balance naturalism and abstraction. Through this approach, I explore how information overload—and censorship—can obscure truth and stifle the pursuit of wisdom.