Gregory Hayes
Tides of Time

Maybaum Gallery

49 Geary St #416, San Francisco, CA
September 10th – October 20nd 2022

Opening Reception: Thursday, Sep. 9th, 5 - 7:30 pm

San Francisco, CA - Maybaum Gallery is pleased to present "Tides of Time" –the second solo exhibition with the gallery for New York City based artist Gregory Hayes. The exhibition features nine paintings that vary in size and color from Hayes’s newest series "Duochrome"; displaying the artist’s use of repetitive paint drops and his systematic technique with an emphasis on two colors of acrylic, black and white, while painting on a variety of artist fabrics as the background. Hayes varies his original technique here by using a clear gesso to allow the color of the canvas, jute, hemp, or linen to show through and alter the overall mood of each painting.

"I have always admired the colors of raw artist fabrics and supports, but in the end have gessoed over them with white before beginning to paint. In the Duochrome works, I use a clear primer so the color of the fabric shows through as the background. I want to highlight the influence raw fabric colors have on the overall picture plan, and how they influence our perception of the black and white acrylic paint drips I put down. I like how each painting has a different mood based on the hue of the fabric. Ultimately, it shows how subtle variation creates dynamic results." -Gregory Hayes

According to Art Historian, Alice Zucca: “Gregory Hayes explores the endless chromatic possibilities of painting by creating an original method of analysis which focuses on the study of gestures through painting and geometric analytical compositions. This process is done often using a dropper and acrylic colors, small drops are meticulously placed on a grid while layers of paint blend in the bottle. Therefore this results in drops of color which are the combination of various chromatic elements that blend in a swirl generating unusual and unexpected variations. When looked from a distance and as a whole the drops seem to blend in a single entity but they remain identifiable as single units when the viewer gets close to the work and looks at it in detail. The artist displays his skills by using structures which can be identified by looking at the marks left with a pencil revealing the grids where the drops of color are placed. Every element is a swirl of color which is unique and its part of the complexity of the entirety, still remaining harmonious as if it was a small complex painting itself which is able to reinforce the feeling of balance of the whole composition. Every drop, being made of multiple colors, escapes the rigorousness of the painting gesture. By trying to achieve the optimal formal precision the artist finds himself aware of the fact that such is unreachable. And it is this almost paradoxical contradiction which Hayes finds perfect in itself. In every series of Hayes's paintings conscious choices and randomness coexist in a sublime formal symbiosis which leads to unpredictable scenarios that define original archetypes.”

Gregory Hayes (b. 1980) is based in Brooklyn, New York. He studied art with original Drop City artist Clark Richert at the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, where he received his BFA in Painting and was named Most Distinguished Artist. He received his MFA in Painting from the City University of New York, Brooklyn College where he studied with Vito Acconci. Hayes exhibits his work in Italy, France, England, Spain, and in the US; New York and San Francisco. He has been reviewed recently in Xibt Magazine and Art Speak.

Tides of Time

Tides of time
tied to temptation
its gentle kiss caressing
with blissful spirit
losing the days
but leaving the grasping
realizing although denying

Split

The sounds of giving
but erasing
each imprint gone
seemingly sad
ultimately exact
exactly where we should be

Clearly

Never mind it, leave it
a gentle kiss caressing (again)
absorbing each moment
erasing the pacing past
in our rattling memories

Replacing

The blood moving
each beat
each rise
each fall
we listen

The drawback sounds in stereo
left, right
the tears traverse

the smiles curve

A natural calm comes
then the crashing
with gulls crying
eyes squinting

Looking past the vastness
to the edge of your own demise

Then recognize
the end is only fiction

Repeat

-gdh 

2021