Phil Hale

Phil Hale was born Philip Oliver Hale in 1963 in Boston, Massachusetts, into a family of artists. Aged four, Hale moved with his family to Nairobi, Kenya, due to his father’s job, and lived there for 3 years. In the early ’80s, at the tender age of 16, he was apprenticed to the master illustrator and painter Rick Berry who had a great impact on such an unformed and young artist. Hale’s apprenticeship ended around the age of 18, and he started sharing a studio with Berry and several other artists. However, three years later, Hale moved to London in order to stop Berry’s dominating influence. In England’s capital, he joined the circle of excellent painters, such as Stuart Pearson Wright, Brendan Kelley and James Lloyd, who offered their generous support. Soon, he started exploring photography as a part of painting process.