Squirming Derangement in Icicle Blue
By Danielle O’Steen
In Before there were laws for corporate pedophilia, the complex title only begins to delve into the perverse world exposed in this work. A general color scheme of baby pinks, purples, and blues soften the viewer before presenting an urban pandemonium with figures stacked on top of one another in a collection of occurrences, commenting on how corporate infiltration of social trends has resulted in the stripping away of innocence for many children. In a world where babies skip right to adolescence, without even a glance towards childhood, a symbolic pile of empty baby carriages sits in the top right corner of the painting. This chaotic world is founded on fashions and meaningless commercial concerns. However, the work is not without hope. The protagonist, Lois "works for a women’s magazine but is otherwise a kind of a terrorist, in order to get laws to protect girls’ childhoods… When girls line up to be weighed by the government, Lois agitates to have the girls weigh their birthday cards, diaries, trophies, and drawings as well. Weight has become the gold standard." However, this so-called optimism is given on the most human scale, with Lois as the only figure among hundreds seeking to correct the backwards nature of her world.
Another work, In the South Pole the explorers were so afraid of not having enough food for winter that they starved to death in summer, appeals to slightly different aspect of human frailty; the characters are trying to survive in the wild. Hayes pushes the use of Candyland colors further in this painting with the additon of glitter on a canvas of bright pink and icicle blue, and uses segmented scenes to isolate occurrences over time. Scott and Amundsden are competitive Polar explorers, according to the booklet, who travel to the South Pole on dog-powered sleds. While the characters are revisited in other scenes, the main focus is in the center panel where the explorers are shown traveling in bizarre patterns. The description continues on: "Many of the explorers were so terrified of being stranded inland during the Antarctic winter that they would not eat their supplies during the summer and consequently starved to death with a sled full of food… Many starved and skeletal explorers were pulled by overfed, fat dogs. The South Pole from 1910 to 1920 was covered with dog shit and dead explorers." While viewers can chuckle over the absurdity in this work, the content is not entirely from Hayes’ imagination. Here the characters become actors, playing out parodied versions of real lives. The top section of the painting is a panoramic view of the figures in the story, all bowing with hands clasped.
Among Hayes’ large and complex paintings, there is an interesting repetition of figures and colors that creates balanced abstract compositions when viewed from afar. However, when approaching the works up close, it is clear that Hayes is careful not to use a prototype for his characters. Each figure is individualized, adding another dimension to the messages ingrained in the paintings. Even more impressive is the sense of depth that he creates, allowing the viewer to accurately view numerous scenes at once. While absorbing, one can feel a sense of relief that Hayes’ figures must remain on their canvases.
