My work centers on painting and drawing that merge inner psychological states with natural forms, using vivid, psychedelic color, symmetry, and fluid structures to create immersive, emotionally charged environments. Influenced by surrealism, psychedelia, and visionary traditions, my practice is intuitive and process-driven, prioritizing sensation and perception over representation. I am currently expanding Orchid Fever, an ongoing body of work in which orchids function as both subject and portal; I am drawn to orchids because they feel like beings from another realm, strange, divine, and alive with an uncanny presence. Rather than botanical depictions, their forms are transformed and abstracted into mystical, otherworldly spaces that address themes of beauty, fragility, desire, resilience, and spiritual awakening. Through a balance of harmony and distortion, repetition and excess, color operates emotionally and energetically to shape atmosphere and perception. Ultimately, my work aims to serve as a visual refuge, offering moments of beauty, escape, and quiet reflection in an overstimulated world.

Bio

Hayley Youngs (b. 1986, Oneonta, NY) is a painter living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a BFA from Pratt Institute and has exhibited widely, including at Hollis Taggart Gallery, Wassaic Project, Future Fair, Spring Break Art Fair, 5‑50 Gallery, Deanna Evans Project, and IRL Gallery, among others.

Youngs has had four solo exhibitions, most recently Orchid Fever in June 2025, and will participate in the Spring 2026 residency at L’AiR Arts in Paris.

Her work has been featured in WhiteHot Magazine, ArtMaze Magazine, Create Magazine, Ain’t Bad Magazine, Time Out Magazine, and All She Makes Magazine (in collaboration with Art Girl Rising), among others.

Full exhibition and publication history available in CV.
'

“... color awakens a physical sensation, which undoubtedly works upon the soul.” - Wassily Kandinsky

“Concerning the Spiritual in Art”