Kenneth Hayden is a Kentucky native born in Owensboro. His work is in the permanent collections of 21C Museum-Hotel, Ventas, Inc, Brown Forman, Atlas Brown, and many other corporate & private collections nationwide. He has been an artist-in-residence at Kunst in der Stadt, Mainz, Germany and participated in over sixty one-man and group exhibitions in the US and abroad. In 2010 he was included in two shows at mdh fine arts, New York, NY and was selected by juror Paul Klein, Chicago, IL for inclusion in “Art From the Heartland” at the Indianapolis Art Center. A Zephyr artist since 2004, Hayden lives and works in Louisville.
“My current work features images of birds native to my childhood. Depicted as solitary entities, in small groups, or as distant flocks in flight, these birds are both subjects and catalysts advancing the movement and emotion in the picture. I often concentrate on creating paintings with limited color palettes, simplified shapes, and abstract elements to produce an unexpected visual energy. Utilizing a variety of media — inks, watercolors, gouache, acrylics or oils — and working either from self-produced photographic studies or manipulating found imagery, I create a moment to be experienced.
Working in series, one piece informs the next. A dialogue between the works suggests avenues for reinvention. As I refer to previous pieces, I begin by identifying what I consider the essential ingredients, and then re-contextualize them into very different paintings. They have a lineage, but also branch off in divergent directions – keeping the newer work “new” while simultaneously maintaining a connective history.”
