Los Angeles Visionaries Association

Melvin Hale emerged from a technical career in telecommunications engineering and software to become an award-winning digital artist.  During his technical career, Melvin created numerous commercial database management systems, one of which, the Communications Resource Management System (CRMS) was the leading facility management system used by Fortune 500 companies to manage voice and data infrastructure during the early 1990's.  In 2006, Melvin and his wife purchased Heusso Gallery in Palm Springs, hoping to retire in the desert.  In parallel with procuring the gallery, Melvin began experimenting with transforming vintage black & white photographs into vibrant living color using Photoshop.  These "re-imagined" images were produced on stretched canvas, offered in the gallery, and the business exploded. The gallery was renamed M Hale Gallery.

In 2007, Melvin entered three of his earliest works into the fine art competition at the California State Fair in Sacramento.  Out of nearly 2,000 entries in 2007, only 188 were selected for awards, including all three of Melvin's entries.  Melvin was the only artist in any medium to receive the maximum of three awards in the 2007 competition, including the Award of Excellence for "Chi Chi and Cubana," a depiction of Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs in the mid-1940s.  In 2008, a fourth award from the California State Fair was given to Melvin for "The Victor Hugo Inn in Laguna Beach."  In March of 2008, Art Business News featured Melvin's work in their 30th Anniversary edition, in which he was hailed as a Trendsetter and Emerging Artist.  The same year the newly renovated Palm Springs Riviera Resort and Spa selected over 50 works of art and photographs from Hale for their facility, including the art in the cabanas around the pool, two murals, and all the vintage photographs gracing the halls and walls of the convention center.  Recently, one his artworks was featured in Hip Hop Weekly Magazine's website. His is also the first art on permanent display at the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce.

Melvin's characterizes his work as Digital Realism, and performs extensive research on the location and historical context of the images he uses.  His favorite subjects originated as black & white photo postcards from the early to mid-twentieth century, also known as real photo postcards (rppcs).  He is pursuing a doctoral degree in Archival Studies in the Information Studies department at UCLA, and has completed all coursework for the PhD and MLIS.  He is currently writing his dissertation on visual literacy, and the ways in which visual imagery is processed, and he has created an innovative method for engaging with visual imagery called the Visual Method of Abstraction (VMA).  He is hoping to complete his doctorate by 2013.  As a native of Southern California, hailling from the Inland Empire, Melvin grew up in a diverse community, and, as many southern California youth, acquired a love for automobiles.

Melvin's subject matter is socially and culturally diverse, and a fair amount of the imagery he works with involves automobiles and popular tourist destinations.  Los Angeles, Hollywood and the surrounding communities and beaches are frequent subjects of Melvin's work.  The sub-title for his website, ArtistLA.com, is Visual Social Memories of LA and Beyond.

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