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 her art has been included in shows at Hollis Taggart Gallery, Wassaic Project, Future Fair, Lorin Gallery, Spring Break Art Fair, 5-50 Gallery, Deanna Evans Project, IRL Gallery, Proto Gomez Gallery, One River School, Elza Kayal Gallery, Field of Play Gallery, Paradice Palase, Satellite Art Show, Showfields curated by Maria Vogel and more! Youngs had her first solo show at the Mark Borghi Gallery of the Hamptons in the summer of 2022. Youngs was selected and attended the Summer 2022 artist residency at Château d’Orquevaux in France.

Collaborations and features include ArtMaze Magazine, Create Magazine, Art Zealous, Friend of The Artist, The Visionary Collective, Ain’t Bad Magazine, Ante Magazine, The Know Culture, Watercolor Society, See You Next Thursday, All She Makes Magazine in collaboration with Art Girl Rising, Bravery and Co., E 66 Studios, Stellar Highway, Project Gallery V, To Painters to Paintings, etc!
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“... color awakens a physical sensation, which undoubtedly works upon the soul.” - Wassily Kandinsky

“Concerning the Spiritual in Art”