b'LA Car ManAs often as not each drawing sheet contains text and sometimes sketched images on it back. These usually consist of little bits of information or thoughts that relate to what was going on at the time the drawings were made. Sometimes these are quite simple, and sometimes complexboth textually and as image, as with the diary page illustrated here (cf p. 6), which contains a mixture of significant dates, word definitions, and other information that in its iteration also forms itself into a striking visual piece. Will is very solitary. Like most people used to keeping their own companyand es-pecially in the context of being on the street, where it can be dangerous to be open or place too much trust in acquaintanceshe doesnt have time, as he puts it, for chit chat. Yet in his art work he is highly productive and eloquent. Image and pieces of text are the things to attend to if you want to get to the heart of William A. Hall. Here is a rich universe in which all open and engaged viewers can participate. And like existence, the whole of the body of work is about something growing. Nothing is ever finished. Everything is always in progress. I suggested to Will that electricity seemed to me to be a guiding power and force throughout his work, from elemental landscapes to retrofuturistic cars and trains. Electricity? he mused, Of course, its the syntax of our brains.Colin Rhodes June 201616'