The Art of Barry William Hale

BARRY WILLIAM HALE

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Welcome to the website of the Australian artist, Barry William Hale. Follow the navigation above to view current artwork, publications and to view upcoming exhibitions and projects.

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Represented by BURATTI FINE ART FULGUR Ltd

Artwork

Paintings

Legion 49
Untitled
Serviettors
alphagenii
Baphomet (Legion 49)
Sigil of Beelzebub
Autodemon
Autodemon 4
Autodemon
Serviettor 1
Serviettor 2
Serviettor 3
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Serviettor 5
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Serviettor 6
Serviettor 7
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Serviettor 8
Serviettor 9
Serviettor 10
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Serviettor 11
Serviettor 12
Serviettor 13
Serviettor 14
Serviettor 15

PAINTINGS

Early on in the history of Modernism a line was drawn that separated secular art from spiritual art. In spite of this division a significant number of artists continue to produce work that is associated with spirituality, mysticism and the metaphysical. Since the 1980s a number of major exhibitions have acknowledged the importance of this tradition in contemporary art. Barry Hales work is not unlike the position that is occupied by alternative or complimentary practices in medicine and science. Central to Hales practice is a will considered and well researched visual epistemology. Hale has pieced together an artistic style that combines a sensual immediacy with and abstract reflection. This approach has been systematized by the artist into a comprehensive and syncretic working method. An important feature of Hales art practice is that it doesnt entirely depend upon orthodoxies or hierarchies of the accepted cannon of Western art history. In this way Hale has had the courage to take a truly independent path. By Christopher Dean(extract taken from Abraxas)

Performance

NOKO - Biennale Image
NOKO - Biennale Image
NOKO - Biennale Image
NOKO - Biennale Image
NOKO - Biennale Image
NOKO - Biennale Image
NOKO - Biennale Image
NOKO - Biennale Image
NOKO - Biennale Image
NOKO - Biennale Image
NOKO - Biennale Image
NOKO - Biennale Image

PERFORMANCE

NOKO is the performative aspect of Barry William Hales various lines of esoteric research, involving long standing collaborations, erupting the contents into what is traditionally a fine arts arena. The merging of actual magical ritual work with contemporary experimental sound and visual forms highly original assemblages in a live multi-media format.This project while varied in associated personnel has produced an extensive and consistent catalogue of residue, documenting the history of work practise since 93.

Publications

Legion 49
Abraxas Issue 2

PUBLICATIONS

A list of publications authored by the artist, or featuring interviews or features on the artist's practice.Click on each image to be directed to content.

Paintings
Performance
Publications

Videos

NOKO
Barry William Hale
Conjuration of Beelzebub 1
Conjuration of Beelzebub 2

Videos

NOKO
Barry William Hale
Conjuration of Beelzebub 1
Conjuration of Beelzebub 2

Biography

Barry William Hale has been described as an occult artist, while a superficially germane term; on closer inspection it radiates a self-consciously unwelcome specificity. Too redolent of those early twentieth century outsider artists whose work depended on visionary states, specific knowledge of ancient mysteries, or some other Qabalistic obscurity. Hale, it should be noted, has certainly done nothing to dissuade such labels, mischievously luxuriating in such terms when fitting. It is apparent from his biography that he is, for example, an outspoken member of the OTO. But such groups encourage individual exploration, undoubtedly an attraction to Hale whose very genealogy radiates the outlaw.Hale was born to hardcore hippy parents, who lived on one of the first Australian communes, according to the artist his biological father was allegedly involved in distributing LSD to a grateful Australian hippie community. Hale was raised by an adoptive family of socialists and masons, but maintains contact with his expanded family.In his studies both esoteric and aesthetic he has explored yogic states and even undergone periods of sensory deprivation in specifically designed laboratories. These, and other, intense methods of self investigation have led to Hale working with neuroscientists to investigate bio-feedback while in deep meditative states. In addition he is a student of the Chinese martial art. Choy Lee Fut, rumored to be the preferred fighting style of the Triads.Hales work is not a mere rendition of the hermeneutics of high ritual magic, rather Hale gravitates to sorcery, to Haitian voudon, to Congolese palo mayombe, to folk forms of religious expression and ecstatic explorations that owe more to the oral traditions of the disenfranchised slave communities than to arcane studies in dusty libraries. This is not to suggest that Hale is not a scholar of the western esoteric tradition, but rather that he has explored and worked with other forms.But folk magic emerging from the Mexican barrio and the New Orleans ghetto makes sense when considering Hales work, with its material emphasis on what is condescendingly referred to as craft and that which many ethnographers would still in their arrogance label as primitive culture. From his experiences in Haiti and New Orleans, Hale has produced a series of voodoo bourbon bottles, their labels painted with the signs and images of Loa. A tribute to the culture and to the artists experiences both autobiographical and magical. Other works involve cutting paper silhouettes, a form of expression common in the magical rituals of the Mexican Limpas, but Hales paper-cuts depict the pantheon of plague demons of the Middle Ages. For his published debut he has chosen this remarkable work, depicting the 49 Servators of Beelzebub taken from The Book of Abramelin, combing the central magical tome with the artwork more familiar with the barrio. Hale mixes rigorous scholarly research into the Book of Abramelin with the chthonic pantheon of Mexico, presenting his own vision.Barry Hales influences are, however, far more than just variations on indigenous forms. This is not glib orientalism, smug tourism or hip voyeurism. Looking at his work it is unsurprising to discover Hale trained to be a tattooist, the bold graphic style echoing the classic flash-sheets of the old school skin-and-ink artist. And there is more at play here, sideshow art, underground comic books, fifties mens magazines, industrial logos, and Tijuana Bibles are all evident in his iconographic reservoir. His predecessors are underground comic book artists such as Robert Williams and the Coop, as well classic occult artists such as Austin Spare and Rosaline Norton. Barry Hale immerses himself in popular art even while creating images that are bewildering in the occult complexity of their significance. Thus a design he produced for the Oceanic Lodge of an OTO depicts the delicious curves of a voluptuous naked pomba-gira, the delicate petals of indigenous Australian flower the waratah, the dove, and the radiating light of knowledge. This juxtaposition of images both sacred and profane formed the design for a t-shirt, a medium and form more often associated with the biker-gang or punk band than that with a magical order. While designs and illustrations for the highly acclaimed Oceanic Currents issue of the Waratah journal reveal an artist of exceptional sensibilities.This embrace of outlaw pop-culture extends into the dissemination of Hales work. During his one-man exhibition in Sydneys Front Room Gallery, at which Hale exhibited some seven hundred automatic drawings, which looked like a bastard cross between Austin Spare and Savage Pencil, Hale employed a Carney-style barker. The barkers role was to cajole and rile the audience at the gallery, while swigging rum and hollering his-own version of the apocalypse to the surprise and entertainment of the assembled crowd.Hales work across various manifestations and themes is about demons and apocalypse. The avatars of liberty, and the moments of true liberation , freeing and illuminating the human spirit.Copyright © Jack Sargeant, 2009Adapted for Fulgur and reproduced with kind permission
Projects

Partners

Barry William Hale works across arange of disciplines and maintains key relationships and partners in each area.

Projects & Exhibitions

Legion 49

Fulgur Ltd has released the latest grimoire from Barry William Hale. All copies now sold out internationally.

Windows to the Sacred

Group exhibition of esoteric art to be held in July 2012 at Buratti Fine Art, Perth.

Revelations Film Festival

Barry William Hale & NOKO have been invited to perform at the Revelations Film Festival in Perth in July 2012

Documentary Film

A current documentary is in production charting the magical and artistic practice of Barry William Hale.

Contact

ARTWORK ENQUIRIES:

BURATTI FINE ART

222 Queen Victoria St, North Fremantle WA 6159

Suntec Tower 3, 8 Temasek Bvld, Singapore

mail_buratti.com.au

www.buratti.com.au

PUBLISHING ENQUIRIES:

FULGUR LTD

BCM Fulgur

London

WC1N 3XX

United Kingdom

www.fulgur.co.uk

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