Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon Portland Community College

Graveyard by Carl Hall

  • Title: Graveyard
  • Artist: Carl Hall
  • Medium: Lithograph
  • Size: 17.5" h x 11.25" w
  • Added to collection: 2013
  • Donor: The Bill Rhoades Collection, a gift in memory of Murna and Vay Rhoades
  • Campus: Rock Creek
  • Location: B2/2 S Print gallery

Although an image of a scrap metal yard filled with the hulks of old ships and timber, "Graveyard" has the powerful graphic rhythms of Abstract Expressionism. Realistic texture and abstract shape come together in the stark geometry and the fussily detailed scrap metal sheets (complete with rivets) and piles of stacked timber. This image reflects the artist's belief that the languages of realism and of abstraction are utterly compatible. The image also reflects Hall's recurrent celebration of Oregon industries – fishing, shipbuilding, and timber.