Yates Gallery

  G.C.Haymes
  Collected Works

   November 5 --  Opening Artist Lecture: 4:00 p.m., L26
   Reception: 4:30-6:00 p.m. Yates Gallery 
  

Artist Statement

I have always thought that my work was about freedom, and certainly some of it – especially the Horse Project – indeed is.  But looking back now over years of work, I have come to realize that much of it is about limitations, self-imposed or otherwise.  The Skymail Project is about trying to capture the essence of the infinite sky on a tiny 3x6-inch postcard.  The Headline Haiku series is about trying to craft a poem from a single copy of a newspaper.  The digital photograms are an attempt to capture a single fragile moment in time with a photograph – without using a camera.  The source material for the B&WX2 series is limited to contemporary black and white films.

We all work within limits.  Limits of space.  Limits of time.  Limits of finance.  What is limitless, however, is our imagination.

My work is also about the pull and tug between nature and technology – the efforts of the natural world to survive and co-exist without being overwhelmed or trampled by the industrial, man-made world.  Elements of both worlds that have been discarded are recycled and woven together into something new and transformative.  Weeds and rust become a poem. In doing so, I am not attempting to improve upon but rather collaborate with nature.

My work is also about time.  The focus is not on the typical bloom of nature.  Rather, by illuminating the glory of nature in decay – the often ignored and discarded post blossom state – I hope to place the timeless, enduing beauty of nature in the spotlight.

G.C. Haymes, 2009