DAN HAYS (BRITISH B. 1966)
Dissolve
1998
oil on canvas
190 x 230 cm
ARR

Provenance:
Laure Genillard Gallery, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1999.

Exhibition History:
London, Laure Genillard Gallery, CLOSE UP ON PATTERN Sean Dawson | Dan Hays | Mike Ralph | Daniel Sturgis, November - December 1998

Artist Description:
Primarily a landscape painter, Dan Hays also explores other genres such as still life and media such as printmaking, photography and digital 3D modelling. His Cage series lasted from 1996-2013 and initially stemmed from the popularity of this Guinea Pig series. Hays sought to explore a kind of hermetic doubling: a cage within a cage. The idea of eschewing compositional choice by containing the central figure within the confines of the rectangle came about. All the cages are enclosed in this way, touching the sides of the canvas at four points. Hays’ paintings present a paradoxical visual realm where immaterial pixel and physical brushstroke coalesce. Using low-resolution images gleaned from the Internet as his starting point, Hays constructs paintings that question the technology-driven obsession with high-definition optics.