ANNIE HAYES
NOW IT'S SOMETHING ELSE
My practice consists of making abstract paintings. Initially, process is important in the creation of a painting. In addition to using found material (discarded cardboard boxes), much of my work begins with a systematized use of pre-made material that I designate as tools in my process. The foundation of my paintings is a series of steps that involve known and random actions. At a certain point, I use what my systematic work has presented and move away from that to other visual considerations.
My drawings are based on several things – the symbols found on commercial packaging and a collection of type specimen symbols. I make drawings that stand on their own, ones that inform my paintings and become part of them, and ones that I redraw and resize for laser cutting to use as tools in my painting.
Having a political or societal agenda is not something that is of primary importance to me. That’s not my motivation. My use and reliance on discarded commercial packing material of course reflects my personal concerns about overuse, excessive commercialization, the people who work to make sure we have the things we feel we need each day, but it is not why I make paintings. The painting and the decision to use abandoned material that many people have handled are distinct but do subliminally inform each other.
My primary aspiration is to explore the internal quality of abstraction, which, at this point in my life, feels like the most natural and challenging thing to be doing.
