Gregory Hayes
While Shedding Shadows

Maybaum Gallery

49 Geary St #416, San Francisco, CA
September 3rd – October 22nd 2019

Opening Reception: Thursday, Sep. 5th, 5 - 7:30 pm
Artist Reception: Thursday, Oct. 3rd, 5 - 7:30 pm

San Francisco, CA - Maybaum Gallery is pleased to present "While Shedding Shadows" –the first solo exhibition with the gallery for New York City based artist Gregory Hayes. The exhibition features six paintings that vary in size and color from Hayes’s evolving "Color Array" series, displaying the artist’s use of repetitive paint drops and his systematic
technique. The exhibition will also see the artist further his exploration of color interactions, and show a set of paintings using a new coloring method called ‘Ghost’.

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.