Brandeis Magazine

Winter 2024/2025

On the House

"Hedges": A house with many sticks poking out of it, surrounded by mirrors
Hugh Hayden, “Hedges,’’ 2019. Photo by Julia Featheringill

Sculptor Hugh Hayden’s first New England solo exhibition, “Home Work,” is on view at the Rose Art Museum through June 1. The show surveys the artist’s output over the past decade, including a piece titled “Hedges” (shown above). “All of my work is about the American dream,” says Hayden, “whether it’s a table that’s hard to sit at or a thorny school desk. It’s a dream that is seductive but difficult to inhabit.”

Exhibit installation of six carved wooden desk chairs with long branches protruding from all sides.
Installation view, “Hugh Hayden: Home Work,” Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, September 18, 2024–June 1, 2025. Photo by Julia Featheringill
Two round, hollow wooden objects full of spikes with metal cages attached on one side.
Hugh Hayden, “The Kiss,” 2020. Photo by Mark Waldhauser
Exhibit installation with a wooden coat in the foreground and wooden skeletons hanging from the walls in the background.
Installation view, “Hugh Hayden: Home Work,” Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, September 18, 2024–June 1, 2025. Photo by Julia Featheringill
Gallery view of the "Hugh Hayden: Home Work" exhibit.
Installation view, “Hugh Hayden: Home Work,” Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, September 18, 2024–June 1, 2025. Photo by Julia Featheringill