In her new current show Orchid Fever at 5-50 Gallery in Queens New York, Hayley Young‘s mixes painting, digital distortion and saturation create psychedelic and complex compositions.
“I’d already been painting flowers and landscapes from travel photos, but I wanted to go deeper, ask myself why I was so drawn to those subjects. Living in New York City, where there’s so little nature, I realized I was craving beauty and a kind of escape,” she says.
“I went to the Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Gardens. It totally blew my mind, especially the year it was curated by Lily Kwong. The orchids were so wild and exotic, from all over the world. They looked like insects, aliens, even creatures. I couldn’t stop thinking about them.”
She started painting them and wasn’t trying to be botanically accurate—instead she was more drawn to their shapes, colors, and strange, fractalized forms. After manipulating them, zooming in, and saturating colors, she realized it became about the energy and weirdness of the orchids— hypnotic and surreal fractals.
A visual artist whose work is a dreamlike response to nature’s wild and beautiful spirit, Youngs grew up in Oneonta, a quiet town in upstate New York, about four and a half hours from New York City. There she was surrounded by a strong craft culture but far removed from the modern art world. “I always knew I wanted to move to New York City. I felt such a strong pull to the creativity and energy there,” Youngs reflects.
She had a passion for drawing from an early age, but it wasn’t until high school that her art teacher introduced her to painting in a deeper way and she immediately fell in love. In 2004, she moved to New York City to study painting at Pratt Institute. “I graduated in 2008—right during the financial crash. Jobs were scarce, so I nannied for years while continuing to make art privately,” she explains. Youngs eventually combined her passion for art and childcare by starting a children’s art program. However, after a while, she recognized that she hadn’t been dedicating enough time to her own work. That realization pulled her back into focusing on her own artistic practice, where she remains fully engaged today.
Youngs cites Alice in Wonderland as a major influence, but Orchid Fever draws on other visual inspirations as well. ”I’ve been really drawn to psychedelic band posters from the 1960s and 70s—the colors especially. I spent a lot of time in the library researching that style. Judy Chicago’s art also has that dreamy, trippy feel that I love.” She wants her paintings to feel like portals, but where exactly do they take you? “I imagine viewers stepping through a kind of rabbit hole, entering a fantastical world inspired by orchids. Maybe they recognize familiar parts of the flower, or maybe it feels like they’ve shrunk down and are wandering inside one,” she explains.
Since her days at Pratt Institute, Youngs’ art practice has undergone several transformations. “Early on, I focused on purely abstract work with bold colors and flat shapes, in a style inspired by Matisse,” she recalls.
“Over time, I began weaving in more realistic elements and playing with the balance between realism and abstraction. I’ve always been drawn to the decorative details of Art Nouveau and Art Deco—especially the way they frame space, almost like portals. Now, I find myself moving back toward abstraction. It’s been a back-and-forth process, shaped by my fascination with form and composition.”
The future feels wide open for Youngs.
“I really feel like I’m just getting started,” she says. “The work is growing stronger, and with more studio time this summer, I’m ready to dive deeper and see where this new direction takes me.”
Orchid Fever is currently on display at 5-50 Gallery in New York, running through July 20. To discover more about Hayley Youngs and her work, please visit her website here.
