Michael Hayes
Artist
Through an eclectic lens, Hayes, a longtime mixed-media artist who paints in oils and constructs collages and satirical papier-mâché masks, explores self-expression in large and small works. Besotted with Beauty (her most recent exhibition) revels in her unique mix of abstraction, figuration and irony in diverse materials and techniques. It is a joyous celebration of love, skill, determination, experimentation and humor.
About her Art
To see her rollicking, colorful palette one would not guess Hayes’s drive to become a great artist arose from extreme childhood privation and abuse. But hardship energized her to try to make the world a more beautiful and just place. With help from scholarships and people who cared, as well as a sense of true vocation, she has become the mature, assured artist she is today, Hayes has shown in more than 40 exhibitions, ranging from solo to juried group shows in the U.S.; Munich, Germany; and Brussels, Belgium. Her art is in many private collections in the U.S., Germany and Japan.
Michael Hayes Biography
I grew up in Chicago, under the federal poverty level. My mother was a tuberculosis survivor with mental problems. It was just the two of us and many, many cats in a succession of single rooms.
Art saved my life. Drawing gave me refuge from a home life of violent destitution, and I turned to it very early. We had no money for art supplies, of course, so I drew with crayons on discarded-newspaper want-ads (discards were plentiful in public places, and the want-ads were an even gray color). Better supplies came later. My mother encouraged my interest in art.
My vocation claimed me at age 5, when I stated that I wanted to become a “great artist,” after looking at the Penguin paperback Pocket Book of Old Masters. Because I needed relief from a difficult reality I drew from 2 to 4 hours a day between the ages of 5 and 18. You can't beat practice for getting good at something.
In high school, teachers sensed something was off at home and gave me what support they could. They noted my interest in art and steered me toward scholarships for special classes at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Institute of Design at IIT, and once, an art camp in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Ultimately, people pitched in so I could take the acceptance exam for New York’s Cooper Union, which was then tuition free if you passed. I graduated from Cooper in 1971.
I started to show regularly in my thirties, when my work didn't look derivative of anyone else's. I joined the Atlantic Gallery co-op in New York's SoHo in 1982, where I showed for more than 20 years. I've had work in more than 40 exhibitions, ranging from solo shows to juried group shows in the U.S.; Munich, Germany; and Brussels, Belgium. My work is in private collections in the U.S., Germany, and Japan.
In the 'eighties and 'nineties, I was vying for art-world representation against mainstream artists whose work was huge and featured in-your-face messaging. In contrast, I was self-funded, worked small (think Paul Klee or Jacob Lawrence), and reveled in cryptic irony. The late Ivan Karp of SoHo's OK Harris Gallery got me though, and called my work "fierce and fully mature" as early as 1982.
My style is primarily Abstract Expressionist. Its overarching theme is transcendence, and it draws on memories, headlines and literary fragments—any phrase or remark that sparks a visceral reaction, including laughter. My sardonic sense of humor has prompted me to title some works with what seem like cartoon punch lines.
My process is emotional and semireligious rather than a rational progression. For years, I channeled anguish and fury into my art, which I considered finished when, after many layers, it reached a stasis that looked "beautiful" to me. While the perception of beauty varies with each person, we humans are so beset by pain in our daily lives that, consciously or not, we crave beauty to refresh and renew us.
Viewers often say they experience my work as "joyous.” Fellow artists have called it "percussive" and "fearless." My show "Besotted with Beauty" at the Cliffside Park [NJ] Arts Association in October 2025 is my first exhibition since I was diagnosed with atrophic macular degeneration.
My gradual loss of eyesight is pushing me to find workarounds. I will augment my gestural style using templates to paint compositions that achieve the grace and beauty I seek via an idiomatic vocabulary of forms. I expect to go on making more mixed-media collages and satirical papier-mâché masks. In other words, I will continue to romp in spiritual realms through creating art that heals me.
