Acclaimed local artist and philanthropist Marta Thoma Hall’s solo exhibition at SF's Anglim/Trimble Gallery

Photo credits: Lemia Bodden

To See With Eyes Closed runs March 1 through April 26

At this very moment, I rejoice—and prefer to see with eyes closed.”

— Marta Thoma Hall

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, March 4, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Acclaimed artist Marta Thoma Hall is excited to introduce her newest solo exhibit To See with Eyes Closed. The exhibit will be on view at San Francisco’s Anglim/Trimble Gallery March 1 through April 26, located at 1275 Minnesota Street, San Francisco.

About the Exhibit

The Dadaists and Surrealists, responding to the trauma of world war, used

automatic writing and drawing as a method of freeing the subconscious. They believed that creating with their eyes closed allowed the unconscious mind to tap into the deepest recesses of the human experience, inspiring both the name of the exhibit and Thoma Hall’s creative process.  

In attempting to comprehend the nature of death after the passing of her daughter in 2023, Thoma Hall created the pieces featured in the exhibit alongside the presence of her daughter, urging her towards bright colors and unexpected materials. Their conversation is an ongoing dialogue between absence and presence, loss and rebirth.

“Michelle experienced life more intensely than others—her joy was radiant, her pain deep and unrelenting,” said Thoma Hall.

She was also inspired by the memory of her grandmother Lila, who lived to be 100. A passionate mountain climber and fiercely independent woman, Lila believed in reincarnation, claiming she had once been a witch burned at the stake.

The complex body of art engages sculpture, painting, collage, and textiles to transcribe Thoma Hall’s inner world and meditate on motherhood, grief, and the nature of existence. Nests and bonfires are recurring motifs in the exhibition: the nest protects, while the bonfire threatens destruction as well as rejuvenation. The artist employs both, closing the circle between life and death, mother and daughter, past and present.

Images of the exhibit here.

About the Artist

Marta Thoma Hall is an American painter and sculptor based in the SF Bay Area and Kauai, HI. Hall graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in fine arts.

As a nationally recognized artist, she is known for her unique juxtaposition of imagery with a surreal bent. Her unusual installations of steel and glass can be viewed in cities and towns across the country. She has exhibited extensively, including recent group exhibitions at Mindi Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL; Gallery 120710, Berkeley, CA; Galactic Panther Art Gallery, Alexandria, VA; and Van Der Plas Gallery, New York, NY.

In 2022 she founded the Hall Art and Technology Foundation (HATF), an educational arts foundation focused on the intersection of art and science in the modern world. As part of HATF’s initiative, Thoma Hall owns and runs the Floating Art Museum, a unique gallery housed on a barge on the Oakland Estuary that spotlights historically neglected artists and emerging talents.

To learn more about Marta Thoma Hall, HATF, and the Floating Art Museum, visit www.hallartandtechnologyfoundation.com.

Contact

For press inquiries, please contact Emma Grenier Selvig: emma@singersf.com, (415) 419-7506.  

For interview requests or to schedule a private viewing, please contact Kristina Kotlier: hallartandtechnologyfoundation@gmail.com, (510) 788-1883