Phil Hale is a self-proclaimed “late career artist”. His expressive paintings live in the equilibrium between chaos and control, figures often caught mid-action in such a way that it’s impossible not to pause and take in each work. His art doesn’t just depict movement; it embodies it, leaving behind an echo of something raw and unresolved. After an early profession as an illustrator for clients including Stephen King, Playboy and Spectrum, Phil’s fine art paintings have exhibited at numerous galleries across the US and Europe with works also in collections within the National Portrait Gallery, the Houses of Westminster, Sony, and Warner Bros, to name a few.
Undeniably, Phil Hale is an accomplished artist. His recent experience as a mentor at Quarantine Events, however, led to some surprising self-reflection that he wasn’t prepared for.
Known for their secretive week-long programmes, Quarantine Events transforms the captivating Lazaretto Island in Menorca, Spain, into the perfect setting for transformational artistic experiences. By creating a safe space which celebrates community, focussing on experimental and holistic practices, it’s not only Quarantine’s paying participants who have left the island ready for a new artistic chapter. Phil’s experience as a mentor at Quarantine has had a profound impact on his own artistic approach and philosophy.
You do start to think: why bother to do art? Why do it? It seems kind of mad to spend your life in a room pushing around coloured paste when the world’s an amazing place, and many artists stopped doing art for exactly that reason. You lose your contact with why you were doing it when you were 10 years old, for example.
So I did have to think about the ‘why’ – and I needed to find a reason to reconnect with doing art. [Being a mentor at Quarantine] was kind of like a diving board, and then I had to produce my solo show very, very quickly and it did give me a tool to crack open the show.
Phil Hale
Against the grain of glossy social reality
There are artists who are strong technically but can find themselves frustrated and incapable of reaching a personal zenith within their art, or perhaps a way forward which feels right to them. This is where Quarantine Events can help. “Part of it is that you want to find out what you’re capable of, don’t you? Art: it’s not a product or an object, but you’re trying to use art as a tool to investigate yourself.” Says Phil.
At first, Phil was hesitant to be a mentor: “I don’t really like those workshops where you teach people to think or to paint the way that you do it.” He explains. “Quarantine asked me to mentor for two years in a row, then they wanted to talk to me, and as soon as we were talking, it was a different situation. I liked their philosophy; I was completely on board. They’ve got a lot of passion, which is the one thing I love – I find it quite addictive. If you’re on the same page, it’s quite easy to see the genuine, down to earth passion in what they are creating.”
“Part of my feeling about Quarantine is that their events are connecting to some underlying foundational reality as opposed to a glossy, culturally social reality too focussed on how people need to be and what the value of art is in those circumstances. It’s more genuine.
Quarantine’s events are not technique-based, it’s about getting people to align their inner workings with whatever it is they are encountering and producing – and to use the production as a tool to find out more about themselves.
It’s not about getting a career in art and it’s not about becoming an artist that other people praise or recognise or monetize.
Phil Hale
This concept of aligning with one’s inner workings, encouraging each participant to find their unique way to elevate as an artist, was the trigger for Phil to find his own views evolving. “In a way, I think the mentors probably got more out of it than the attendees!” he laughs. “That’s because [as a mentor] it was so deeply unusual to have those direct conversations with [participants] who are being very open: 40 people in a week. You have all these intense conversations as mentor and participant, and then often you talk with them later on as well during the downtime.
“It really activated something. I was moved. Everyone was willing to expose themselves in unexpected ways. Imagine: once participants let down their barriers and exposed themselves, then there was nothing to be; they were kind of free. And I think that’s a fantastic atmosphere for everyone. It just allows things to happen and to be fluid.”
“That’s one of the reasons why I love what Quarantine is doing. Everybody had something interesting they were working on, and it was deeply personal to them.
Quarantine taps into everything unique and personal to each individual there, and everyone supports each other.”
Phil Hale
The real problems in doing art
“There’s a certain amount of control, technique and conscious direction and so on in refining something. And those are easily identifiable problems if you’re trying to figure out how to draw a hand, or realistic lighting, for example. But those aren’t the real problems in doing art. Those are not the meaningful problems.”
For Phil, the more important problem to overcome is the ability to “open up” as an artist. He found many participants trying to control the journey in order to reach their intended outcome, “like steering constantly back into the centre of the road” he explains. Many participants leaned heavily on trying to get “the kind of feedback they think they need” – but in doing so, they were missing the bigger picture.
Phil’s experiences as a mentor undeniably blossomed new thought processes, which he then felt he had to try and apply to his own work. “Doing so isn’t straightforward,” he muses, “but [I realised] that almost everything needed to be less controlled and opened up in my own art as well. That was the main thing that came out for me. You mustn’t seal what you’re doing in some way.”
Out-of-the-box exercises
The specific activities which take place at Quarantine remain a mystery to everyone outside of the events, a privacy which Quarantine insists upon maintaining. While Phil refused to share specifics, he stressed how much his mind was blown by the out-of-the-box exercises created to help people escape their own expectations and aspirations. “The main element was to get things to be looser, more open – less consciously graded and less controlled by expectations or prior conditioning.”
I’m enormously conditioned – I’m even conditioned by my own past work now, which is a sort of agony. I’ve been finding some way to work what I learned into my own practice – a way to escape myself and my own censoring and conditioning. I mean, the single greatest problem is yourself, in that way.
Phil Hale
Going back to the roots
Everyone can produce art, and for Phil, the thing artists have to offer is the ability to produce art that completely belongs to them – something formed out of their own experiences. This uniquely personal imprint, far greater than copying another, comes out of a person’s internal model and the “machine that they’ve made to produce it”. This is what Quarantine Events stokes into fruition. Steering away from conditioning-controlled behaviour and expression, Quarantine provides a safe space for this growth within the beautiful but intense atmosphere of Lazaretto Island. It facilitates total immersion, away from daily life distractions.
“Painting is different from music or a novel because it is this fantastic single-charged lump that you can examine after the fact. Painting synthesises all this activity and thinking and physical behaviour into this one thing, and then you can look at it and examine it.
“[At Quarantine] it was fascinating to see how both participants and the mentors worked out their own scenario, and what they value, and then create their art. You could see all the connective tissue between what they’ve done and who they are. And obviously, there is some overlap – a cross pollination, in some ways. But you could see that something was happening inside the participants throughout the week as the art shifted. The art was just so much better when people were free from their expectations.”
Quarantine: the perfect place to grow as an artist
One of the reasons that Quarantine’s events are so effective is due to their in-depth conversations with potential participants and mentors. Their week-long events are not for everyone, and it is important to ensure artists are open and ready for the shake up that their events entail. This due diligence ensures that the people who make the events are much more likely to connect; an important element for an environment encouraging mutual support as everyone grows together throughout the week.
Phil Hale recounts the bonds he has made with gusto: “In some ways [being at Quarantine] is cracking open a door. I met many wonderful people when I was there. I mean, lifetime friend material. I did a show in New York a month ago and many of them came. It was wonderful.” He smiles.
It’s been a whirlwind for Phil since he mentored at Quarantine, moving directly into the work for his aforementioned solo exhibition ‘ANTICLIMB’ at Anita Rogers Gallery in New York. But Phil’s personal journey is far from over. In many ways, it has only just begun: “I’m dismantling an old system… it’s like muscle memory. The muscle memory when I sit down just wants to do all that old stuff.
“I say the point is not to refine. The point is to be more direct. The point is to try things that make you uncomfortable. The point is to not try and consciously control things in the same way. The point is also to just do what you do – and be okay with it.”
Phil Hale
I find myself having to disagree that Phil is a “late career artist”. His most recent revelations highlight evolution in the works, and no doubt, a longer road ahead as he continues to discover new parts of his artistic self.
Phil Hale Media Accounts
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