Artwork Information

Check Piece, 1971 contains 480 cheques which trace two years of the artist’s life in New Haven during his study at Yale School of Art and immediately after he left. Every cheque is handwritten, and they are displayed here in sequence. Hall has commented:

"At the time American banks would return your cheques with your statement at the end of the month . . . there are cheques for the rent, for the occasional substance, donations to the Black Panther party, lots of liquor stores . . . The last cheque was for a trucking company to take my stuff to Los Angeles, and then the account was closed. Everything, all life is there."

It is an excellent example of the kind of practice forming at that time in the United States of America, which directly engaged the artist’s life as a subject in works, often in a durational (time-based) and performative manner. Hall stated:

"I made the decision back at Yale that it was not about virtuoso performance in any way, it was not about the sublime. It referred to working and to working-class life."