DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — Durham artist Stephen Hayes’ work is striking. Unmistakable. Thought provoking.
Where he is now, is an extension of his childhood… the thing that got him interested in art to begin with.
“I ended up breaking a remote-controlled toy car, and my brother took the car apart. And he took the remote-controlled car and put a 9-volt battery to it. And the 9-volt battery ran it. I was like, oh my God, I cannot believe I can break all the toys I have here and make new toys,” Hayes recalled.
So, his mother bought him a professional work bench to encourage him. It worked. Now he takes things that may be trash to some and repurposes them, with a purpose.
He is telling the African American story through art.
“My work deals with capitalism, consumerism and brainwashing and the ideas of the Black body. How are black bodies being seen today?” he said.
Hayes restores wood from buildings in neighborhoods that have been gentrified in his artwork. The parts he uses to create his pieces all come from things others may have thrown away. And it is not because he is frugal, it is because he is thoughtful.
“You know, I want to, you know, use my work to connect people from across generations. And what I called role, you know, to create this conversation. You know, like you have done that. I do feel like I created this conversation and I feel like art is there to ask questions and to connect people and to make statements.” Hayes stated.
When you see his pieces, you will notice three recurring items: corn, horses, and chess pawns.
“The corn comes from the from like, my shorthand of a slave ship, and it also comes from my because exhibit is called Cash Crop,” Hayes explained.
He added, “The pawn is there to serve a certain purpose. So today we are like these pawns put on this pedestal. They give us all these materialistic goods. So that what we think is, we are winning.”
As for the horse, Hayes said, “So back in the day when we had a horse with a broken leg, nine times out of ten what are they going to say? It is useless. Of course, it’s too much money to nurse that horse back to health than it is to put it down and buy a new one. So, what I do with my horse is take all the legs off and put a lot of different layers on different sizes, lines and designs. So, if you do that and put it on the ground, it’s still going to fall over because there are no 3 to 4 legs out of the same length. So that’s a metaphor for we’re giving everything we need to restore ourselves.”
Hayes work is on display right now at Ella West Gallery, in Durham’s historic Black Wall Street district
This exhibition is called “Reclaiming the Discarded”
The social media director for Ella West said it is not by accident they chose this Hayes.
“Reclaiming the Discarded was absolutely a theme that, you know, we arrived at. Given the confluence of the history of this space and the back story in a lot of Stephen’s work,” Anica Green said.
Stephen’s work is not just in Durham, it is in galleries across the country, including a commission for Juneteenth at the legacy Museum in Montgomery Alabama.
Work from a man – that speaks from his soul, his head and pays tribute to the past and future of African Americans.
“I create work because I want to help the next generation grow.”
Stephen Hayes’ work will be on display at Ella West Gallery until mid-April.
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