NEW YORK, NY.- Peter Freeman, Inc. is presenting Alex Hay’s seventh solo exhibition with the gallery and the first ever dedicated to his furniture and objects.
Hay’s practice is driven by the materials and objects that captivate him in daily life. He applies his unique craftsmanship and economy of vision to making things, whether for personal use or as formal artwork. When he moved to Bisbee, Arizona, in the late 1970s, he started making furniture before setting up his painting studio because he wanted a chair to lean back in. This evolved into a series that included rocking benches. Around the same time, when the production of his favorite leather boots ceased, he made his own. The related tools and components—a contour gauge, precise wooden replicas of his feet, and calf forms—are on view with other objects and furniture built for his home and studio over his lifetime.
Alex Hay (b. 1930) moved to New York in 1959, and by 1962 was part of the nascent Judson Dance Theatre, gaining early recognition for his performances alongside frequent cohorts such as Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, and Merce Cunningham. Following his first group exhibition––at Leo Castelli Gallery in 1964––he had solo exhibitions at Kornblee Gallery in 1967, 1968, and 1969, and at the New York Cultural Center in 1971. His work has been in several other group exhibitions since then. Hay joined Peter Freeman, Inc. in 2002.
The artist’s work is in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; and Museu Serralves, Porto. His work, Steno Pad (1966), belonging to the collection of Ludwig Forum Aachen, Germany, is currently on view there as part of Amy Sillman: Oh Clock! (through 31 August 2025). Paper Bag (1968), in the collection of Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, will be included in their upcoming exhibition, Sixties Surreal, opening this fall. Peter Freeman, Inc. will publish a monograph chronicling Hay’s career in the next year.
