Hugh Hayden: Boogey Men

In his innovative work across mediums, Hugh Hayden (b. 1983, Dallas) creates
anthropomorphic forms that explore our relationship with the natural world. Formally
trained as an architect, Hayden deploys laborious processes—selecting, carving,
fabricating—resulting in dynamic, surreal, and critical responses to personal experience
and social and cultural issues. Renowned for his use of wood—taking disparate species
and manipulating them to reveal complex histories and meanings—Hayden crafts
intricate metaphors and meditations on experience and memory that question social
dynamics and the ever-shifting ecosystem. This publication charts the artist’s
development up to “Boogey Men,” his major 2021–22 exhibition at ICA Miami.