A Mississippi native, artist Randy Hayes moved to Seattle in 1976. For the first few years, he operated a bookstore which included a small gallery for exhibiting photography. Hayes' own artwork uses photographs as both source material for paintings, and as a substrate to be painted upon. Around 1990, he developed a technique of painting on top of a grid of photographs which became his primary method of working. In 2008, Hayes was awarded the annual Neddy Artist Award for visual artists in Washington State.

This image shows Randy Hayes in front of his 50-foot mural "Pool" in 1985. "Pool" was funded through Seattle's 1 Percent for Art Program and was installed on an outside wall of the Alki Room (now the SIFF Film Center), across from the International Fountain at Seattle Center. The piece is composed of painted cutout figures posed as if they were entering a swimming pool and backlit in fluorescent green.

Caption information source: “Biography,” retrieved from http://www.randyhayes.net/biography
Caption information source: “A drab wall becomes a work of art,” by Regina Hackett, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 7, 1985, page C9.