Maya Hayuk

Region: Northeast

City / State: Brooklyn, NY

These large-scale paintings are not sketched out in advance; they are improvised reactions to and collaborations with the environments they occupy. They are built up in layers of loose, wet, deliberate, rapid, rigid, and blown-out gestures. While this process could go on forever, time and weather usually dictate the moment of completion. I rely on the imperfection of my arm’s reach and trust in my own physicality, as well as in the capability of whatever cherry-picker or scaffold I am standing on. Even when I have the luxury of working with an assistant, the paint is applied almost entirely by me—this is important to me. My work is a physical endurance performance and a kind of meditation. These paintings live in public spaces that become personal for those who make selfies with them; they do not last forever, and they make me really, really happy.