"Homegrown Ii" Sculpture

James L Hayes is a contemporary visual artist and university educator based in Cork, Ireland. With a multi-disciplinary practice spanning sculpture, print, installation, cast iron performance, film, and large-scale public art, Hayes’ work critically engages with the processes and histories of object-making. His recent projects re-investigate modernist sculptural languages through the lens of casting technologies, questioning the boundaries between artist, artisan, and art object. Central to Hayes’s practice is an exploration of the often paradoxical relationship between refined art objects and the industrial processes behind their creation. His work frequently references and reimagines these production methods, drawing connections between materiality, cultural memory, and conceptual form. Hayes’s broader research intersects with science and science fiction, under-explored sculptural legacies, and literature that reveals cultural histories and traces of the past. His work challenges traditional hierarchies within sculpture and invites dialogue between contemporary practice and historical narratives.