Background
Hallek grew up in Rohuküla, Estonia, where his father worked as a fisherman.
Hallek grew up in Rohuküla, Estonia, where his father worked as a fisherman.
He was educated at the Kungliga Konsthögskolan, and had his first solo exhibition in 1963 at Konstnärshuset in Stockholm.
He and his family moved to Sweden from Soviet-occupied Estonia as refugees in 1943. He was a professor of arts at the Kungliga Konsthögsskolan between 1981 and 1991. Along with Åke Hallarp, he designed the Stadions tunnelbanestation, the Stadium subway station in Stockholm.
The family fled the Soviet occupation of Estonia on its fishing trawler in 1943 and arrived at Torsö on Listerlandet in Blekinge, Sweden.
The family settled on Torsö and continued their fishing business there. During the 1940s, Hallek took courses in drawing via correspondence, and after winning a drawing competition at school he received the opportunity to travel to Paris.
Hallek moved to Stockholm in 1950 and began attending Signe Barth"s school of the arts He attended the Kungliga Konsthögskolan from 1953 to 1958.
