John Hall is a multidisciplinary artist based in Birmingham whose practice explores surface, pattern, and the material language of the city. Alongside his studio practice, he runs the internationally renowned textile design studio About Pattern, working with clients including Uniqlo, Philip Lim, and Guy Laroche.
Having studied Fine Art at undergraduate and postgraduate level, John’s work has evolved through sustained investigations into pattern, abstraction, and the physicality of paint. His practice moves fluidly between painting, surface design, and textile thinking, allowing different modes of making to inform and challenge one another.
Recent paintings draw inspiration from the urban environment, hoardings, torn and decaying billboards, layered graffiti, and other overlooked surfaces encountered in the city. These fragments become starting points for compositional decisions, abstract forms, and repeating motifs. Underpinning this visual language is an ongoing interest in city development and the processes of regeneration and gentrification.
Paint is applied through a distinctive process of layering torn and shredded acrylic paint skins onto painted grounds, building surfaces that reference both erosion and construction. Areas of visual research frequently merge, collide, and blur, reflecting the complexity of contemporary urban experience.
Colour plays a central role in the work and is informed by seasonal trend forecasting research generated for the fashion industry, introducing an additional dialogue between fine art, design, and commerce.
A recent recipient of an Arts Council England Develop Your Creative Practice grant, John continues to seek out collaborative opportunities that generate unexpected outcomes, new conversations, and expanded ways of working.
Experience
1993-96 BA (Hons) Fine Art
2002 – 2004 MA Visual Communication
2014-2019 – Director, Ensell and Hall – printed textile studio
2015 – Curator, Tibor Reich Drawings – Whitworth, Manchester
2016 – Published, Chapter in Tibor Reich – A life in Colour
2019-present – Creative director, About Pattern – printed textile studio
2024 – Winner, Silver Yard commission, Grainger PLC – artwork for lobby
2023 – Solo show, Plane Structure – Birmingham
2024 – Solo show – BPN Architects – Birmingham
2024 – Speaker – Birmingham Design Festival
2024 – Print design – Elmhurst Ballet School, A La Mode Costumes – Shaw Theatre London
2025 – Group show, Surface Gallery, Nottingham
2025 – Group Show, Baltic Gallery, Gateshead – collaborative work with Jimmy Turrell for NUFC
2025 – Group Show, secret 7 inch exhibition – London
2025 – Recipient – Arts Council DYCP bursary
2025 – Residency – Ballerzosa Studio, Athens