She died in a child welfare tribunal, he died in an adult bookshop
- Cameron Hayes

A highly intelligent and skilled storyteller, Cameron Hayes’ multi-layered paintings actively address cultural power structures and contemporary political issues, rather than simply describing them. His fiercely honest observational works depict modern tales of pollution, political corruption, economic inequality, social injustice and the seemingly general malaise of humanity, often revealing patterns of human behaviour repeated throughout the centuries and across cultures.

“Because in painting you are capturing just one moment in time, you have to progress the story using many different characters doing many different things at the same time and they have to imply a past and suggest a future within that movement.” – Cameron Hayes, 2021

Hayes deftly unites metaphor, symbolism, present and past, distant and near onto the flat surface of the canvas. These intricately detailed and vibrantly coloured works immediately engage and draw us in closer to take in the complexity of the visual narrative. We are presented with microscopic worlds amongst worlds – logical, surreal, historical, futuristic – produced with an extraordinary oil painter’s assured hand and undeniable expertise.

Each large-scale painting can take months or years to complete even with a consistent daily discipline of intense studio time. Hence, after exhibiting predominantly solely in New York for most of his career, many paintings have never before been exhibited in Australia.

Curated by Marielle Soni, this highly anticipated solo exhibition at Australian Galleries is Cameron’s first in Melbourne since his near sell-out show of 2000.