“This North Carolina artist,” wrote Barbara Morris, “has always emphasized a formalist impulse to create autonomous, abstract objects coupled with an undercurrent of allusion to the long, rich and intimate world of the book, the cold geometry of steel wedded to the warmth and nuance of well-thumbed tomes. In earlier exhibitions, Hayes worked exclusively with books, specifically with pages taken from them as a foil to his welded steel housings. Here, in an assortment of wall, pedestal and freestanding works, he broke new ground by injecting into these minimalist geometric shapes hints of trompe l'oiel.”