About the artist:
An artist with a bold palette and a voracious appetite for life, Kerry Hallam is as refreshing and spirited as his paintings. The story of how he traveled from a daydreaming young artist from the north of England to a world-renowned expressionist visionary artist, living and painting in the continental US is one of great passion and perseverance.
Hallam showed early artistic talent when he won a six-year scholarship to London University’s Central College of Art. After a formal art education under British master painters Leslie Cole, Patrick Heron, and Hans Tisdale, he completed his military service in the prestigious Gurkha brigade in Hong Kong and Malaya. Hallam’s talent was further acknowledged when he was selected for inclusion in Britain’s Royal Society of Artists in Watercolor.
As a young artist searching for his own truth, Hallam immersed himself in the energy and passion of Southern France. The cradle of French Impressionism, with a legendary landscape, has given birth to many master artists through the ages. Acting upon this influence, Hallam says, “My ambition was to make definitive statements. Using van Gogh, Cezanne, Matisse, and Dufy as departure points, I would…build on their feelings, dance to their music”. Also inspired by the Fauvist movement of a century ago, Hallam uses color as an emotional force. By combining the brilliant, exuberant colors of the Fauvists with the intimacy of the Impressionists, Hallam continues to paint with the passion of his youth.
In the late 1960s and early ‘70s, his artistic career was augmented by five years as a musical performer, working with musicians James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt and in 1996 a collection of original songs by Kerry Hallam was released on compact disc, Autumn Harvest. In 1973, Kerry moved to the United States settled in New England and dedicated himself completely to painting. The latter established his first studio in Boston, and in 1981 opened a studio on Nantucket Island. Since then, he has lived and painted in many parts of the United States, most recently settling into Martha’s Vineyard. Many decades and numerous adventures later, Hallam has proven himself to be an artist worthy of the many accolades he has received from collectors and critics alike. But more important than the certificates and trophies is the fact that he continues to build upon an artistic career of sustained creativity and commercial success. Hallam is unique among contemporary artists in that his work not only remains fresh at face value but also takes on a patina of added perspective with passing years.
Transcending trend and time, Hallam has unlocked the secret to timeless beauty. Through innumerable one-man shows, Kerry Hallam has been honored by galleries around the world, having shown at exhibitions in Paris, London, Tokyo, New York, Beverly Hills, Hong Kong, San Francisco, and many other international cities. His work has been featured in countless newspaper and magazine articles as well as in PBS television specials. Intimate glimpses into Hallam’s lifelong journey of artistic expression are available in his numerous and warmly human autobiography, Getting to Nantucket; An Artist’s Journey and in the retrospective of his newest work, Kerry Hallam: Artistic Visions. The works of Kerry Hallam are published and sold exclusively by Chalk & Vermilion Fine Arts of Greenwich, Connecticut.
