Explore Jim Hall's Unique Lineillism Art Exhibition Today

Story and photos by Mary Casey-Sturk

Despite the decidedly chilly weather, dozens gathered in the Judith M. Sarakatsannis Gallery of Fine Art to celebrate the work of Kentucky-born artist, Jim Hall on January 30^th for the opening of Lineillism Revealed: The Vertical Visions of Jim Hall.

Lineillism, a painting technique developed by Hall, is a unique approach using only vertical brush strokes. The results are vibrant and detailed images. In this exhibition, which is open through February 7^th, you’ll get the rare opportunity to view his work up close, and a limited number of works are available for purchase.

Only a small number of painters have been credited with innovating an entirely new style of painting, and Jim “JC” Hall was one of them. Hall, who was a native of Henry County, Kentucky, lived in Sharonville, Ohio much of his life and passed away in 2017 at the age of 84.

This exhibition is vibrant and uplifting, Hall’s work incorporates his travels, his family, his passions and there are touches of whimsy throughout-such as when Hall cheekily painting himself into a painting of Venice’s St. Mark’s Square.

In a documentary filmed before his passing, he shared that this painting process involved more than 500,000 brush strokes and weeks of work to create a single image. In Lines of Sight, Hall shared how his art helped him overcome homelessness, depression and other health setbacks, including a stroke and shingles, which severely affected his vision and caused him to view the world as a series of vertical lines. Released in 2018, the documentary is currently available on DVD and vimeo.

Lines of Sight was an independent production, produced and directed by Steve Oldfield, who spoke at the opening of this exhibition about the life and art of Hall and he also curated the exhibition. Lineillism transformed Hall’s visual disability into a powerful artistic legacy.

In his talk, which followed a brief video of Hall painting, Oldfield shared when he first met the recently widowed Hall and saw his paintings, he knew then that Hall would be the subject of his next project. In fact, that meeting was eleven years ago this week.

The documentary was shown at many film festivals, including in Calgary, and was well received. It also aired on KET. Hall was a prolific painter before his health issues and Oldfield noted that after adapting his style to his vision, his first painting took a full year and those that followed averaged only a month. After the documentary, the Behringer-Crawford Museum had an exhibit of his work. In this exhibit, there are QR codes that you can scan and be taken to footage of Hall discussing that particular artwork. It’s moving to see and hear Hall in person.

Lineillism Revealed: The Vertical Visions of Jim Hall is free and open to the public on the following dates:

Saturday, January 31, 2-5 p.m.

Sunday, February 1, 2-5 p.m.

Thursday, February 5, 5-8 p.m.

Friday, February 6, 5-8 p.m.

Saturday, February 7, 2-5 p.m.