Double Memory: Art and Collaborations

Phil Hale and Rick Berry met in 1980. Hale was sixteen and Berry twenty-seven. After founding the Newbury Studio (along with Tom Canty and Rick Salvucci) in Boston, they went on to illustrate the work of people who make up a veritable "Who's Who" of three major literary genres: William Gibson, Stephen King, Robert E. Howard, Frank Herbert, Peter Straub and the list goes on...Going well beyond the roles of illustrators, they are considered innovators and artistic pioneers -- Berry produced the first digital cover paintings (W. Gibson's Neuromancer, as seen in Time Magazine, 8 Feb. 1993) for trade fiction in the world. Hale's superb brush work garnered him so much attention, by age eighteen he was a pro in demand. Soon he was tapped for King's Drawing of the Three. Among their numerous awards is the 1989 World Con Best of Show for "Dry Science" by Berry. Berry's design and painting for Straub's Mrs. God was considered by Communication Arts as one of the year's best illustrated books. CA plus the Society of Illustrators annuals and Print magazine have published their works for music, literary and pop culture. Both have also contributed extensively to gaming cards and comic books.

It is remarkable ... that somehow out of the "discontinuities of the unexpected universe" two of the most creative artists and best draftsmen I've ever seen should met at the right time. -- Jeff Jones

Berry and Hale--best known as illustrators of books by Stephen King, Peter Straub, William Gibson and Frank Herbert--here assemble a collection of their surreal, frenetic paintings, photographs and sketches. Individually and in collaboration, the two evoke a world of obsessively proficient athletes, mysteriously tragic women, robocops, raygun-toting skinheads, monsters with human torsos and lascivious monkeys. There are echoes of Francis Bacon's horrific portraits in the distorted figure studies shown, and echoes of Max Ernst and Rene Magritte in the dark fantasies and manic, cartoonish collages. Yet ultimately Berry and Hale's dark, frightening vision is singularly their own, and their pictures are often compelling. Featuring more than 100 color plates, this album was composed on a personal desktop computer--nearly half of the images exist only on the printed page.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.