James Hayes is visual artist from county Kerry. He primarily operates as an oil-painter, but is also an accomplished muralist, illustrator and a qualified architect. His artistic practice is centred around a personal and phenomenological exploration of the complex relationship that exists between self and surroundings. His work has been characterised as a unique blended form of contemporary engagement with both the genre of ‘landscape’ painting and an intimate narrative painting tradition; eschewing hierarchy and category in favour of equal focus on both landscapes and figures. He is a self-styled painter of the space between people_and_place.