At first glance, they appear to be the work of classic artists, Reynolds, Hockney or Gainsborough. But look again at former North East student Victoria Hall's work, and it is the artist herself peering out from the iconic scenes. Lindsay Jennings reports

IT would be wonderful to be a fly on the wall in a gallery showing Victoria Hall's work. First, there might be the recognition of an old favourite, an 'oh look, it's Hockney's 1970s' painting Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy' for example - until the viewer takes a closer look.

There is the vase of lilies, the yellow book on the coffee table, the cream telephone and Mrs Clark, hands on hips standing next to the open French windows revealing the balcony. So far so Hockney. Then the realisation hits - there is no Mr Clark. And Percy the cat seems to have trotted off too. And isn't Mrs Clark's hair slightly darker than usual?

"Often people look and think 'I know that painting', then they realise that the man is missing," says Victoria, who places herself in the centre of all her restaged classic masterpieces.

"The humour element is quite an important part of it for me. It's about mocking the heritage industry, but also about enjoying it as well."

Victoria, 35, studied fine art at Northumbria University in Newcastle before graduating from the Chelsea College of Art and Design. She was born in Beverley, Hull, and moved to London with her family when she was 12, where she lives now with film producer husband, Dan Shepherd, and children Thomas, two, and Matilda, five months.

But although Victoria studied fine art, her work is actually photographed, not painted. "I was always interested in photography and used it as a research tool," she says. "Then I started looking at English sensibilities, the English Heritage themed park scenario and the way that a lot of audiences go to a show and they're not really looking at the work in a different way because they're so used to it."

Victoria began re-staging great works. Not surprisingly, it can take one day to shoot a scene but up to six months to set it up. Where possible, she tries to shoot in the exact location as the painting, which can bring an inordinate amount of red tape which only lengthens the preparation.

Many of the scenes have mirrored her own life and she has used her children in some of her work.

"I did one called After Raphael Part 1 when I was about eight and a half months pregnant," says Victoria, who will exhibit her work at the NewcastleGateshead Arts Fair next month. "It was one of the few portraits I could find with a heavily pregnant woman because after about four to five months they used to go to their apartments and would never see the light of day.

"They are as authentic as I can make them. Often people would paint the arms or legs slightly in the wrong direction, you think hang on a minute, her leg can't actually get in that position, it's physically impossible."

Victoria makes most of the costumes herself, hiring the more elaborate ones. Each costume is painstakingly authentic.

She also makes the sets herself. In Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, voted one of the nation's favourite paintings in a Radio 4 poll, that meant making the shutters.

"It was taken in a house in London with a balcony the same as is in the original," she says. "It doesn't have all the props, but it's got to be 100 per cent exactly the same or I won't use them.

"People often ask where the cat is, but I didn't put the cat in because when I scaled up the painting it was the size of a polar bear and it would have caused too much of distraction."

She doesn't put Mr Ossie Clark in the painting either, nor Mr Andrews in her restaging of Gainsborough's Mr and Mrs Andrews. But she says this is because another person, male or female, would have been a distraction.

"I'm in all the work alone because it's about contemporary art and how you fit into the structure of historical art, so it's key that I'm the person in the image. It's all about me being the artist in the work."

The only exception is including her children. In After Raphael Part 2, based on Raphael's painting Madonna del Granduca, Victoria and Thomas look positively angelic, as they should. It is immaculately staged - so how on Earth did she get her toddler son to pose so gracefully?

She laughs. "I have a couple of assistants and we take a Polaroid and check all the colours then, at the very last minute, Thomas is whipped out of bed and put into the shot."

Each work is printed to the size of the original canvas. The lighting is also key and is what gives the scenes their aged, painted look - and makes it harder for the general public to see that it's a photograph. So, if there was a fly hovering over her work during a show, what would it see?

"People tend to be very vocal and feel they have a right to tell you exactly what they think because they know the image so well," she says. "They're often very interested in the costumes and how they're made. But I do like the fact they'll tell you what they think, and they have a right to an opinion.

"They quite enjoy it and I think they enjoy the attention to detail."

The NewcastleGateshead Arts Fair will take place on Gateshead Quays next to the Sage from May 10-13. For more information log onto www.ngartfair.com or contact 0191-241-4523.