MAYA HAYUK

“Bright”, “massive”, “intricate”, and “joyful” are the words artist Maya Hayuk uses to describe her own work. I would add “electrifying” and “grand”. It’s obvious that I’m a sucker for a color palette that uses bright, fluorescent pops in unexpected ways (as is evident here and here) but the grand scale of Hayuk’s murals, with the intricate mandalas and organic shapes and drips, leaves me breathless. I was surprised to hear about her process because when I look at these pieces I assume a lot of pre-game planning goes into them…but no. Hayuk has said, “I stand back and wait for the wall to tell me what to do and then do it. I go through mental convulsions, totally free falling and not having a clue what I'm doing at all, but just sort of trusting the whole process as if I'm collaborating with something outside of myself.” This unexpected looseness is so refreshing to me, it adds a level of trust in the transcendent and release from the controlled environment…and don’t we all need a little bit of that?
Read more about Hayuk here and here.