Painting
Laurel Hayes
Marfa, Texas, United States
“The room in a painting begins where perspective stops being dependable.”
Biography
Laurel Hayes studied architecture before exchanging models for large painted fields. From a spare west Texas studio, she makes geometric paintings in which doorways, floors, and counterweights are reduced to a few exact planes.
Artist statement
Hayes paints rooms that cannot be entered but can still be felt bodily. Scale, edge, and a small displacement are enough to turn color into an architectural situation.
In the studio
Hayes maps proportions directly on linen, applies thin acrylic grounds, and completes the surface with oil. Tape establishes the first edge, while broad hand-painted revisions keep the geometry from becoming diagrammatic.
