The Score & Other Works, James L. Hayes

This publication highlights a 3 year project and series of works by James L Hayes in collaboration with artist and composer Peter Power. The Score is a multidisciplinary artwork exploring the heritage, culture and sporting tradition of Irish road bowling that has been played in County Cork and across Ireland since the seventeenth century. Commissioned by Cork County Council in 2021, and supported by Creative Ireland, this series of work presents a unique and creative response to Irish road bowling in collaboration with members and players from Ból Chumann na hÉireann. The work was shown in Cork in 2023, as well as at the centre Cultural Irlandais in Paris in 2024 and most recently this publication was to coincide with its third iteration and exhibition at GOMA in Waterford in 2025. This catalogue also brings together a selection of Hayes’ recent works, offering a window into the diverse concerns of the evolving methodologies that define his practice - through cast objects, sculptural assemblages and site-responsive installations.

ARTIST BIO

James L. Hayes is a contemporary visual artist and university educator based in Cork, Ireland. With a multi-disciplinary practice spanning sculpture, print, installation, cast-iron, performance, film, and large-scale public art, Hayes’ work critically engages with the processes and histories of object-making. Hayes’s broader research intersects with science and science fiction, under-explored sculptural legacies, and literature that reveals cultural histories and traces of the past. His work challenges traditional hierarchies within sculpture and invites dialogue between contemporary practice and historical narratives. He has exhibited extensively in Ireland and internationally, with recent exhibitions at The Festival of High Temperatures (Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design, Wroclaw, Poland), the National Sculpture Factory (Cork), Centre Culturel Irlandais (Paris), The Glucksman Gallery (Cork), The Royal
Hibernian Academy (Dublin), Caponi Sculpture Park (Minnesota, USA), MART Gallery (Dublin), La Salle College of the Arts (Singapore), UNO Gallery (New Orleans, USA), Art Market Budapest, and SUPERMARKET Art Fair (Stockholm, Sweden). Hayes has participated in prestigious residencies including the Sloss Metal Arts Program at Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark (Alabama, USA), the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). He is a recipient of multiple awards from the Arts Council of Ireland, Culture Ireland, and Creative Ireland.

Self-Published
Softcover
Limited Edition of 100
65 pages 
230 x 300 mm
ISBN 9781036926861