LA Car Man
As 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 complex – both 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 company – and es­
pecially in the context of being on the street, where it can be dangerous to be open 
or place too much trust in acquaintances – he doesn’t 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, it’s the syntax of our brains.” 
 
Colin Rhodes 
June 2016
16

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