Jeffrey Hale, Dissolving Boundaries

Art should be weird. It should transcend the mind and reach a part of the viewer where only raw imagination exists. Jeffrey Hale's art is weird. Every painting is imbued with a wild array of color, bold texture, and unusual body distortions like something in feverish dreams.

"My art is about disengaging with the intense, and going beyond the physical. Energies of people come out in art. You just have to look beyond."

Jeffrey Hale is mildly eccentric, and somewhat erratic, but soft-spoken and oddly comfortable to be around. He glides across the floor of his studio in socks --- rearranging easels, lamps and lighting incense until the energy of the space is ready for the session.

"I'm not saying I come here and access a higher level of consciousness or something pretentious like that. My process is more like...getting out of the way and allowing the relationship between myself and the model to materialize, to let the energies lead it."

Conjuring

"I feel compelled to make art as a mode of expression. When I can't access the words I want, I paint."

I would argue that Jeffrey's paintings say more than words can express. He successfully captures the emotion and unique aura of the model while also expressing his own life experience and state of mind. His is a completely unique approach that results in a completely unique style.

"If I had to describe my art in terms of style, I would say it's most like expressionism. Although no contemporary artist really confines their self to a category anymore. Even the self-proclaimed expressionists of the era were really so much...bigger than that."

Expressionism flavors Hale's work. The spontaneous, swirls of the brush strokes and textural elements he employs tell a story that the image alone could never fully express. His use of body distortion is characteristic of the expressionist era. However, unlike many expressionists such as Edvard Munch, or James Ensor, Jeffrey does not choose themes of death and agony for his paintings, but rather life and vitality.

Hale takes a page from Italian artist, Modigliani in the way that he draws on inspiration from African artists. He shows this influence in the elongated necks present in the majority of his figures.

A Prayer

I would be ignoring the elephant in the article if I neglected to address the figures of nude women that dominate the majority of Jeffrey's work. In a conservative Utah culture, Hale's use of female nudity does not go without controversy.

"When you think about it, I can paint men or women. I choose to paint women because their forms are more of a challenge for me. The male form tends to have sharper lines which are easier for me to construct because of my background in cubism. Female bodies have softer lines and curves so they challenge me to break out of my comfort zone. Also, if I'm going to spend hours staring at a piece I'm working on, I'm going to paint what I like."

Fair enough for this writer, but let's go back to the question of conservative culture. Many people in Utah categorize any depiction of nudity as pornographic. I asked Jeffrey for his response to this criticism.

"I paint nudes, not erotica. There is a difference. My art normalizes the human body but it doesn't sexualize it. To those who don't see the difference, I would say they lack emotional intelligence."

To say his art simply 'normalizes' the human body is only part of the story. Whether Hale is recognized as a feminist artist or not, there is no question that his work celebrates the female form --- even her imperfections. His art makes a powerful statement: no body is perfect by society's standards, and it's the uniqueness that makes them beautiful.

The real challenge to Jeffrey Hale's art is looking beyond the form to see the deeper meaning. The real genius of his art is found in the intense expression of the face, and the colors, shapes and texture within the piece that tell an emotional story behind the physical appearance. The magic is in the implicit.

Title in the works.

Serendipity