Roger Hayes - First paintings done in 1974, adopted painting full time in 1978. Have been slogging in the ranks for the past 29 years, had a few choice breaks here and there. Would like to devise a means by hook or crook to show in Europe again.

Born (1962) and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Attended graphic art courses at the Center for Creative Studies, 1978 - 1981.
Found my way into the then International Neo-Expressionist movement with a heavy emphasis on the narrative figurative. Showed in alternative space galleries in Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus.
Moved to the west coast and left a void behind that soon became filled with controversy. Works submitted to the heavily media-picketed Fear No Art exhibit in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which instantaneously became notorized by Right-wing picketers, the daily Detroit Free Press and nightly television. The event was noted in a October 15 1990 Newsweek article on obscenity within the then current context of Robert Maplethorpe and Jesse Helms, and two of my pieces were sited for their edgy content. An exhibit at Ann Arbor's 111 Art was viewed by the wife of Jimmy Carter's cabinet minister Zbignew Breszinski, who was then curator of Eastern European art in Washington D.C., with entourage. She had been in Ann Arbor debuting a new collection of Eastern Bloc Art at the University of Michigan. She was infuriated at my show and as a result the show was closed by the police 3 days later.
Teaming up with Jacques Karamanoukian in 1987 caused my work to focus on the influence of Art Brut. Before long my work was exported to France and shows on the continent started coming in. I first exhibited at the Galerie Meduane, in Laval, France in 1988. In 1999 I was fortunate to be one of a small group of American artists invited to exhibit at one of Europe's foremost Outsider/ Art Brut venues, Halle St. Pierre, in the heart of Paris, located just below the Sacre-Coeur. I maintained this association through the early years of the 21st century, and was able to have my works located in the Musee de L'Art Brut, in Lausanne, Switzerland, as well as in the Creation de L'art Franche, in Begles, France.