A pendulum swings back and forth, marking time energised by the pull of gravity, an unavoidable physical stake we all share to the earth and an apt metaphor for collaboration between two painters.

From Calgary, Alexander Haeseker was born in Holland and is Lecturer Emeritus from ACAD and John Hall now living in Kelowna, BC is a Professor Emeritus from the University of Calgary.

During the creation of this body of work, both artists divided their time between San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and Canada. The title, Pendulum / Pendula, is in the two languages of Canada and Mexico and as the nuances of a culture are oft defined through the specific articulation of the language, this is also an apt titling for both cultures are evident within the imagery. The rules were that Hall and Haeseker each covered 50% of the canvas. The project lasted from 1991 to 1998. Their work before the project had been veering towards each other: Haeseker had been creating compositions using partial portraits, dime store objects and bright pop colours while Hall had used masks, Mexican cha-chas, and a panoply of reflective foil and plastic papers.

Haeseker and Hall came to grips with the explosive potential of realist painting by subsuming their individual identities in the name of the phenomenal object - each of the twelve paintings of Pendulum / Pendula. Together, and by virtue of their technical virtuosity, they took stuff and made it “such stuff as dreams are made of.”