“How fragile we are under the sheltering sky. Behind the sheltering sky is a vast dark universe, and we’re just so small.”
- Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky (1949)
Hallahan’s paintings are known for their intricate, meditative compositions of the natural world, using various techniques to create rich and complex surfaces that evoke the ever-changing nature of abstracted landscapes. His work invites the viewer to enter a contemplative state and consider their own relationship to nature.
One of the most striking aspects of Hallahan’s work is the way he uses light and colour to create a sense of movement and enduring change within his paintings. He is particularly interested in the way that light occupies and relates to natural environments. Hallahan employs light in a way that creates depth and dimension. In many of the paintings, colours shift and metamorphosize as the viewer’s gaze observes the surface of the canvas, creating an energetic and dynamic entity constructed using carefully rendered tones. Accompanying the series of paintings is his new moving-image work sun, sun, sun, in which a Donegal bay sunset is obstructed by a radiating orb, accompanied by a piano sound piece collaborated with Joe Harney. The work is immersive in its manifestation as the sound of birds subtly reverberates in the space and the hue of a setting sun draws the viewer‘s attention.