Abstract #17

Born 1943, San Francisco, California
Lives and works Moorpark, California

The large-scale abstract paintings of James Hayward have been described by the critic Dave Hickey as “stepping into liquid.” Hayward’s monochromatic canvases display the fluid and malleable properties of oil paint, and present a rich, undulating yet unified field. Hayward’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the U.S. James Hayward was born in San Francisco in 1943. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at San Diego State, and then studied at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Washington, where he received his Master of Fine Arts in 1972.

Hayward has exhibited extensively, particularly in California, since his first show solo show in 1976. He has exhibited at historically significant galleries such as Claire S. Copley Gallery, Riko Mizuno Gallery and Rosamund Felsen Gallery in Los Angeles and Sidney Janis Gallery in New York, and his work has been included in museum exhibitions in institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Hirschorn Museum, Washington D.C., The Renaissance Society At The University Of Chicago, and the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in London, U.K. among others. Through the 1990s and 2000s he exhibited extensively at Modernism, San Francisco and Ace Contemporary Exhibitions in Los Angeles. Artist Mike Kelley curated a solo exhibition of his work in 2005 at the Cue Art Foundation in New York calling Hayward “one of the few truly important West Coast Painters.” Also in 2005, critic and educator Dave Hickey included his work in a curated show entitled Step into Liquid, at the Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles.

Recently Hayward’s work has been included in “Under the Big Black Sun” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, curated by Paul Schimmel in 2011, a solo exhibition at Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles James Hayward Paintings from the 70’s in conjunction with the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time exhibition in 2011 and his Annunciation paintings have been shown in the solo exhibition Variations on the Annunciation at Meliksetian | Briggs in Los Angeles in 2013.