BRIANNA HAYES
(SHE / HER / HERS)
BFA ART EDUCATION
DEBORAH DEERY '01, '12 MEMORIAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN ART EDUCATION
This current body of paintings both confronts and satirizes the cliché of the nature nude within the history of painting. By taking a particular look at bather paintings from the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movements, these works feature bodies that senselessly navigate ambiguous environments. The figures playfully pose or engage in sexual acts; their over-saturated bodies are exaggerated to parody the subtle fetishized depiction of the nature nude. Their hidden eyes reference the deflected gazes of the nature nudes, reinforcing the viewer’s role as a voyeur. As these figures roam in their darkened spaces, they are unknowingly presenting their ballooned bodies to an outside world.
Based in Philadelphia, PA, Brianna Hayes’ paintings satirize and challenge the cliché of the nature nude within the history of oil painting. Hayes’ works depict ballooned characters navigating ambiguous natural environments as they pose, play, or engage in sexual acts. Their eyes are blocked or deflected from the viewer, forcing them to be unknowing of the outer world and reestablishing the viewer’s role as a voyeur. Her work has been exhibited in shows including Crosscurrents at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Annenberg Gallery in Philadelphia, PA; the Annual Student Show at Moore College of Art & Design (MCAD) in Philadelphia, PA; and Visionary Instincts at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, PA. She is also the recipient of MCAD’s Fanny Brennan Scholarship for Excellence in Painting and is looking forward to attending the Rome Art Program in Rome, Italy in June of 2021. Hayes is a 2020 BFA candidate at MCAD.