My career as an artist began in San Francisco, Ca at the Art Institute in 1979 after I decide that I was not deciplined enough to stay in the Army. I drove across country in the only car I have ever had a 1976 Toyota Corolla and began what I thought was going to be a career as a photographer. My most vivid memory of that period was my first life drawing class and seeing the model remove all of her clothing as if she were along. Having grown up in the South in a predominately African American neighborhood and going to a all black school I did not know if I should laugh or just stare. I quickly adjusted and started a journey toward becoming an artist by emersing myself in a variety of media. In addition to drawings I make and exhibit paintings, sculpture, and video using photography as a reference for those works. I have also worked on public murals, and commissions for transit projects in San Francisco.

I presently live in Brooklyn New York working, sleeping and eating in the same place. My current body of work consists of small acrylic portraits, cityscapes and facade drawings all of which I go from one to the other with no defined guidlines or period. My practice is that of a figurative artist who is intrigued by the city and the face with the overriding notion that one should make what one is attracted too, forget the idea of the package. I am influenced by popular culture, art history and making my own his history.

Significant exhibitions include SFMOMA, Studio Museum in Harlem, Addison Gallery of American Art, San Jose Museum, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, and the New Museum. I have also completed several residencies two of which are MacDowell Colony and LMCC Swing Space. Important awards include, San Francisco Art Institute (Diebenkorn Teaching Fellow), Eureka Fellowship, Pollack-Krasner Grant, Artadia and Individual Artist Grant from the San Francisco Art Commission.

Frederick Hayes