agnes hayden did not set out to develop a particular style. the work gradually became what it is through years of painting, tattooing, and removing everything that felt unnecessary. what remained wasn’t planned. the work simply became more distilled over time.
raised in an artistic environment and trained across a wide range of visual disciplines, her relationship with art began early and has remained constant throughout her life. rather than committing to a single medium, she spent years exploring different ways of making before gradually discovering the visual language that felt most true to her. over time, tattooing became the place where everything she cared about came together: painting, permanence, and the tension between control and surrender.
About the artist
painting remains the starting point of every piece. working with ink and water means accepting that part of the process will never be fully controlled. water moves on its own, reacts to timing, pressure, and chance. rather than resisting that unpredictability, hayden allows it to shape the work.
once the painting is finished, the process changes completely. every movement, every edge, every detail the painting revealed is carefully preserved as it is translated onto the body. the painting becomes a reference that is followed as closely as possible, allowing its most unexpected moments to remain intact.
only then does the work open up again. as the composition begins responding to the anatomy of the body, new connections are developed freehand. these moments are rarely planned in advance. they emerge through the act of tattooing itself, allowing the finished piece to remain faithful to its origin while becoming something that could only exist on that particular person.
over the years, the work became increasingly abstract. not because abstraction was the goal, but because it allowed something more honest to remain. rather than reducing a person to familiar symbols, the images leave room for interpretation. they invite curiosity instead of certainty.
for hayden, tattooing is not separate from painting. it is simply another place where the work can exist. one lives on paper, the other on skin.
exhibitions & publications
- exhibition, surface tension, aia contemporary, prague (2025)
- interview, w&v magazine (germany, 2023)
- featured artist, the raw stuff publications (2022)
- illustration featured in the familiar, vol. 5 by mark z. danielewski
- artistic collaboration with omar rodríguez-lópez (film project)