en Phil Hale

Phil Hale
Phil Hale
	Hale in 2017
Born	1963 (age 61–62); Boston, Massachusetts
Nationality	American
Education	Apprenticed to Richard Berry
Known for	Portraiture, fine art, photography, drawing
Notable work	Official portrait of Prime Minister Tony Blair (2007)
Movement	Figurative painting
Awards	Third Place BP Portrait Award (2000), Joint Second Place BP Portrait Award (2001)
Patron(s)	Peter Hall, Adam Jones
Website	http://philhalestudio.com

Philip Oliver Hale (born 1963)^[1] is an American figurative painter who currently resides in London, England.

Early life and education

Hale was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1963. He is related to a number of American painters, including Ellen Day Hale, Lilian Westcott Hale, Philip Leslie Hale and Robert Beverly Hale. His mother and grandmother were also artists.^[2]

Hale spent the formative years of his childhood in Nairobi, Kenya, where his parents were stationed for work.^[3]

Early work

At age 16, Hale was apprenticed to American painter Rick Berry in Boston, where he lived for three years until migrating to the United Kingdom.

During this period, he illustrated a number of book covers for American novelist Stephen King, including The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three published in 1987 and his gift edition of Insomnia.^[3]

Current work

Hale's current work focuses on figure as well, in depictions of slightly surreal scenes with strange characters performing various physical feats, usually in a confrontation of some sort.

In 2007, Hale was commissioned by the House of Commons to paint the official portrait of former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair. The finished painting was unveiled in Westminster on April 23, 2008. Mr Blair sat for the portrait during his final months in office in 2007.^[4]^[5]

In 2014, Hale was recruited by G-Star RAW to produce their Spring/Summer ’14 campaign “The Challenge”. He created a series of photographic collages of a chess match between Chess World Champion Magnus Carlsen, and model Lily Cole.

In 2015, he exhibited 15 oil paintings and at 18 pencil drawings in an exhibition titled Life Wants to Live. The exhibition showed at Jonathan LeVine's Gallery in New York and was later published as a book.^[6]^[7]

He also recently formed the movie production company "unprofessional.com" with his son Callum Hale Thomson. It specialises in bespoke analogue filmmaking.

Hale's work is featured in major collections including the Palace of Westminster, National Portrait Gallery, Lord's Cricket Ground, Sony and Warner Bros.^[1]^[3]

Published works

Major works

Double Memory: Art and Collaboration by Rick Berry and Phil Hale
A Monster at Christmas by Phil Hale and Thom Canty
Goad: The Many Moods of Phil Hale by Phil Hale
Mockingbirds/Relaxeder by Phil Hale
Sparrow: Phil Hale by Phil Hale
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, interior illustrations by Phil Hale
Urge Ourselves Under by Phil Hale
Empire by Phil Hale
Black Crack by Phil Hale
Use Music to Kill by Phil Hale (2020)

Audio

Golden Phone Plays Mockingbirds by Golden Phone (a band in which Phil Hale and Jon Wygens play)

Book covers

Arbitrary Crude by Enders Buzcienski
By the Time I got to Phoenix by Paolo Belhassaine
Candyass, 2 a.m. by Willem Barough
Conspicuity by Sanford Pel
Farther the Shoals, Darker than This by Duane Michael Edley
Fondle by Sanford Pel
Goya by B. Grutbauer
Hero is Angry by Y.Carlos Cantor
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Hong on the Range by William F Wu
I am Drugs by Jayne Reeser
Insomnia by Stephen King
Lungs, Lips and Liver by Rena Davrin
Makes Me Want to Cry by Bob Mertz
Mofo by Hooglander Ivanov
New Black Car by James Higgins (as yet unpaid)
Relaxeder by Carsten Glock
Shrivel and Deplete by B. Grutbauer
Tendresse by Gene Scott Tzerati
The Male and Female Uro-genital systems: Collected Essays 1992-97 by Rafael Onlhy
The Male and Female Uro-genital systems: Collected Essays 1997-99 by Rafael Onlhy
The Pornographic Diagram is Incorrect by Rena Davrin

He was commissioned by Penguin Classics to paint new covers for new editions of six Joseph Conrad books, published in 2007: Heart of Darkness and The Congo Diary, Typhoon and Other Stories, Lord Jim, Under Western Eyes, The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' and Other Stories, Nostromo and The Secret Agent.

Comic Books

Covers

Flinch #1, #11
Strange Adventures (1999 series) #2
Swamp Thing/Lucifer Preview
Weird War Tales (2000 series)
Swamp Thing (2000 series) #1, #2, #3
Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer #1
Legends of the DC Universe #33, #34, #35, #36
Vertigo: Secret Files & Origins: Swamp Thing #1
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #168
Halo Graphic Novel

Interiors

"Reunion", Epic Illustrated #22
"In the Future", Epic Illustrated #29
"Knock Knock", Epic Illustrated #29
"Johnny Badhair", Epic Illustrated #33

Magazines