Biography

Gerry Hayes (born April 9, 1940) is an American painter who, in addition to his paintings, has created installation sculpture and conceptual ideas documented in photography.

Early Life and Education

Hayes was born in Los Angeles and raised in various parts of the South. He obtained a Bachelor of Visual Arts degree at Auburn University in graphic design with an emphasis on painting. For the next two years he was employed as the Art and Staging Supervisor for Auburn University Educational Television. After moving to Champaign/Urbana, Illinois, Hayes earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Printmaking at the University of Illinois in 1966, where he taught painting and drawing before moving to New York City in August 1968.

Career

Hayes' academic career was at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York (1971–2006). Professor Hayes was full-time graduate faculty, teaching seminars in painting, drawing, and printmaking. From 1983 to 1985, he served as the Chair of the Undergraduate Painting and Drawing Department and subsequently taught graduate painting while working as Assistant Chair of the Fine Arts Department until he resigned in 2006. In 2008 he was awarded Professor Emeritus status for his service to the Institute.

Artworks and Exhibitions

Hayes' first solo exhibition in New York was in 1970 at Reese Palley Gallery in SoHo. He exhibited sculpture installations in 1971 at Bradford College and his work was included in the "Lucht Kunst" (Air Art) exhibit at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

In 1972 his work was exhibited at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. Sculpture and photo documentation pieces were included in an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, titled "Earth, Air, Fire and Water: Elements of Art." Virginia Gunter, curator of the exhibit, wrote a feature article on Hayes' work for Artforum (May 1973), titled "Gerald Hayes: The Creativity of the Psychological Eye." A full page of photos of these works were featured in Flash Art magazine in October 1973.

Hayes began a new series of artwork from 1973 to 1976, drawing with an ink compass on large photographs to relate the arcs of curved shapes to the patterns of plant leaves. A selection of these photo drawings were shown at the 112 Green Street Gallery in SoHo and related works were exhibited at the Bevier Gallery of Rochester Institute of Technology.

Hybrid Works

In 1978, Hayes' work combined photography with painting into a complex circular form. An article by painter Craig Fisher in Arts Magazine (June 1980) discussed these works. Robert Pincus-Witten also discussed current and early works in "Entries: Styles of Artists and Critics" in Arts Magazine (November 1979). Curator Phyllis Plous of the UC Santa Barbara Art Museum included Hayes' leaf arc drawing, a new tondo painting, and a wall installation in the exhibit "DARK/LIGHT" in 1980, which traveled to Scripps College in 1982 and was reviewed in Artweek and The Los Angeles Times.