Wednesday, April 30, 2008

the brits do it the right way

now this is how official portraits of heads of states should be done. i just found out that tony blair's official portrait was painted by phil hale.  i own a copy of hale's book & his works have been a favorite of mine since art college.

what stunned me was that britain selected an artist who's style is known to push the envelope.

the blair piece is a departure from hale's signature look. it will, after all, be hung at westminster.

no tie, the look away gaze, the palette.  exhausted & contemplative. i like that it humanizes him. 


the guy who did this

also did these


one can only dream to do the philippine prez official portrait. oh, i'd like to do that one.

1 comment:

Jannie aka Chickengirl said...

I wonder if he did a normal portrait then did a wacky one, just for kicks. Have to give props to Tony Blair for choosing someone who was known to push the envelope.

Speaking of brits, the artist who told me that my art "didn't look Asian" was also British. Hmm.......