Samia Halaby is about metamorphosis. Entering her world is like having a conversation in a submarine. You are underground. In a place so unfamiliar it becomes strangely familiar. In a place so unusual it becomes inexhaustible; in a place as majestic, maze-like and wondrous as the world found in the pages of Alice in Wonderland. Painting to her "is visual ideas". Her colors are her playground. Persian-blue, sea-green, lemon-green, violet, blue-red, gray, pink, yellow, it's all present. But her colors are not as symbolic as much as they are impressionistic. She describes herself as a "picture-maker rather than a painter". She creates with fervor and immeasurable devotion. The more you look at her paintings, the more seductive undertones you find; and like listening to an orchestra playing you find high tunes, low tunes, violent roars and soft cries. Some of her strokes appear to have no reference but in fact are very carefully devised and at times profoundly disturbing for what they merely suggest.
