Shelley Hull: Paintings and Constructions

October 16 - November 22, 1987

My use of these mystical notions is personal. For Kabbalists the primary concern is man’s relationship to God and explaining God’s inner workings. For me these myths transcend their theological context and describe psychological events. Also, I am quite selective in my use of Kabbalah. Numerology, theurgy and angelology are essential aspects of Kabbalistic doctrine which do not interest me. The paintings relate to the notion of the Diaspora. They express the pain, sadness and anger of separation from the ideal and the longing for reunion and wholeness.

Spiritual in intent and luminous in palette, Shelley Hull’s intimately scaled canvases, panels, and boxes synthesize mythologies from various sources and centuries. Influenced by the writings and oral traditions of 16^th century Jewish mystics, Hull interprets mythic concerns and icons in a psychologically infused manner. Sinuously coiled, illusionistically rendered fabrics intermingle with actual silks. Phantom hands sail across fiery skies. A shrine-like, theatrical atmosphere is evoked, and often extended into the third dimension, to further engage the viewer’s meditative eye.