Terry Hays
Terry Hays - Trees #1 & #2 (Detail)
Artist Statement
Born and raised in Texas, I received my BS from West Texas State University and my MFA from Texas Christian University. Following graduate school, I spent eight years teaching painting and drawing at the University of Manitoba School of Art in Canada before returning to Texas. At this time, my work was primarily centered around installations that filled the gallery.
Soon after my return I put my art on hold and began painting large sets for stage productions and television. I returned to teaching for a few years and taught scenic painting in the theater department at Southern Methodist University. It wasn't until about eight years ago that I returned to my own personal art. When you paint everyday as a scenic artist, it is hard to go to your studio and paint without it reminding you of work. A separation of my every day job from my art was critical in order for me to return to the studio. Finding my voice again was a struggle,
I eventually started looking at art from different cultures especially, Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea, China, and Japan. I also was attracted to the increasingly popular street art and full body tattoos. I have always been a fan of outsider art and admired the work of James Hampton and his “Throne of the Third Heaven” or pretty much any of the artists from the book “Gardens of Revelation” by John Beardsley.
Starting with fragments of images from these various sources I began to cut up, enlarge and tape together various bits and pieces of imagery in an attempt to create a language of my own derived from all of these sources. Taped together to form a skin it was transferred to various found or built surfaces and painted to appear like elaborately patterned porcelain or cloisonné.
These newly painted objects were bewildering but at the same time very seductive.
To transform dead tree roots that I removed from my back yard seemed like an odd undertaking but one I felt was necessary in order to break from my preconceived notions. Having found what seemed to be this new voice the personal narrative began to slowly enter the work.
This new voice also became a personal statement about what art should be or should not be. A statement about painting in a world dominated by new media. A statement about trying to create the extraordinary or phenomenal versus following the path of least resistance. A statement about commitment. A statement about discipline.. A statement about time consuming art versus art that takes no more than 60 seconds. A statement about what is important about art and what is not. A statement about what we think we are communicating versus what people see.. A statement about the decorative and guilty pleasures versus the intellectual. A statement about the validity of even thinking about all of the above, or completely ignoring it.
- Terry Hays, 2011
Born and raised in Texas, I received my BS from West Texas State University and my MFA from Texas Christian University. Following graduate school, I spent eight years teaching painting and drawing at the University of Manitoba School of Art in Canada before returning to Texas. At this time, my work was primarily centered around installations that filled the gallery.
Soon after my return I put my art on hold and began painting large sets for stage productions and television. I returned to teaching for a few years and taught scenic painting in the theater department at Southern Methodist University. It wasn't until about eight years ago that I returned to my own personal art. When you paint everyday as a scenic artist, it is hard to go to your studio and paint without it reminding you of work. A separation of my every day job from my art was critical in order for me to return to the studio. Finding my voice again was a struggle,
I eventually started looking at art from different cultures especially, Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea, China, and Japan. I also was attracted to the increasingly popular street art and full body tattoos. I have always been a fan of outsider art and admired the work of James Hampton and his “Throne of the Third Heaven” or pretty much any of the artists from the book “Gardens of Revelation” by John Beardsley.
Starting with fragments of images from these various sources I began to cut up, enlarge and tape together various bits and pieces of imagery in an attempt to create a language of my own derived from all of these sources. Taped together to form a skin it was transferred to various found or built surfaces and painted to appear like elaborately patterned porcelain or cloisonné.
These newly painted objects were bewildering but at the same time very seductive.
To transform dead tree roots that I removed from my back yard seemed like an odd undertaking but one I felt was necessary in order to break from my preconceived notions. Having found what seemed to be this new voice the personal narrative began to slowly enter the work.
This new voice also became a personal statement about what art should be or should not be. A statement about painting in a world dominated by new media. A statement about trying to create the extraordinary or phenomenal versus following the path of least resistance. A statement about commitment. A statement about discipline.. A statement about time consuming art versus art that takes no more than 60 seconds. A statement about what is important about art and what is not. A statement about what we think we are communicating versus what people see.. A statement about the decorative and guilty pleasures versus the intellectual. A statement about the validity of even thinking about all of the above, or completely ignoring it.
- Terry Hays, 2011
