When I paint I try to recapture that intense curiosity and unquestioning possibility I associate with childhood. What makes that experience so exciting is the absence of logic and the indulgence in fantasy, mystery, and magic. It includes the sense that everything is alive and possesses an intrinsic capacity to shape shift or transmute from one being into another. It is through this personification that the unconscious and the spiritual are made manifest.
I find artistic inspiration in things I collected and that intrigued me as a child; bones, machine parts, dried ink pens, already chewed bubble gum, dead hard shelled bugs, rocks, shiny colored toys, medical and other scientific exploratory equipment, religious memorabilia, and action figures. I was particularly amazed by Christmas window displays and animated rides at Disney World. I believed that those electrical, mechanical moving pirates, ghosts, and figures in the snow had voices, heartbeats, thoughts and internal chatter of their own. I continue to be seduced by that notion.
My work is stylistically surreal but philosophically quite different than the intentions of the original surrealists. While my imagery emerges spontaneously, unconsciously they are synthesized and configured intentionally, consciously. I make creative decisions intuitively or according to an emotional rather than logical sequence. I combine familiar and culturally recognizable objects and symbols in unfamiliar ways to evoke humor, paradox, and wonder and to explore psychological and spiritual relationships we have with ourselves, with each other, with the worlds we live in, and with the lure of the unknown.
Heidi Hayes
Biography
The paintings of Heidi Hayes have been featured in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and cultural centers, including the Virginia Beach Museum of Art in Virginia Beach, Virginia; the University of Georgia in Athens; America, Oh Yes in Washington, DC; and the Levy Gallery in Philadelphia.
Hayes studied fine art in Cortona, Italy, and at the Rhode Island School of Design. In addition, she received a B.F.A. from Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia and a M.S. in clinical art psychotherapy from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia. She was born in South Carolina.
Reviews can go here.
Ms. Hayes art certainly lauds the archetypical symbols of Carl Jung, but she doesn't just parrot the master. She explodes the basic forms through the modern psyche, and thus bares the soul to the light of today's sun. Observe please the central figure in her paintings; in some he/she/it is being stretched, torn, and/or dismembered; in others the inner stuffing oozes out through hasty stitches, Band-Aids, screws, or perhaps even the tiniest bit of spit hopefully applied with the fantasy that somehow, someway something will work to hold it all together. But Ms. Hayes knows the truth; we are all piece-work,we are always a work in process. The two things that prevent her work from becoming a depressing list of our faults are hope and humor. Hope shines through in the possibility of change and renewal shown in every painting; the cord can be cut, the defensive armor can be peeled off to expose the true flesh underneath, beneath that short dumpy everyday you lies a tall and slender person trying to get out. It has been said that the true test of intelligent is whether you get the joke or not. Ms. Hayes must be a very smart person indeed, as every painting is a panache of puns, sight gags, quips, and wisecracks. One can only face one of her works with a smile that soon stretches to an ear-to-ear grin accompanied by a chuckle that soon giggles its way into a guffaw. In the end all I can say about her work is...more! Please! More!!!
Russ Story
As soon as I saw Heidi's website, I knew that she had the ability to create a very colorful work of art which was excactly what I was looking for. After we met and discussed the concept of what I wanted my CD cover to convey, I felt very confindent that she was the person for the job. When I saw the finished product it by far exceeded my expectations and I would highly recomend her to anyone else looking for excellent artwork. I know that she will be the first person I contact when I come out with a new CD. Thanks for all the wonderful work.
Tom