At Home (and Work) with Artist Maya Hayuk
What do you do?
I’m an artist: I paint huge murals and small canvases; print screen-prints; and I make videos, photographs, and sometimes sounds with my voice.
How long have you lived in Brooklyn?
I flew in on March 11, 2002, which was the first evening the memorial at Ground Zero was lit up; the pilot looped our plane around Manhattan so we could all witness it.
Why did you move to Brooklyn?
I came from San Francisco to help a friend do some color separations for his drawings so they could be produced into t-shirts. I was supposed to be here only a few weeks, but it’s been over 10 years now.
What’s your favorite thing about your space?
My apartment: the fact that it’s rent-stabilized. My studio space: the fact that it’s basically next door to my living space.
What’s your least favorite thing?
Paying rent.
What are the three inanimate things you’d save first in a fire?
All of my external hard drives, my archive of photographs, the pillow my grandmother embroidered in 1923, when she was 13 years old.
What’s your favorite room in your space?
In my studio space there’s an amazing common area that’s cozy and spacious and dreamy. We’ve had karaoke parties, dinners and screenings in there and it’s so nice that it’s separate from home.
Favorite time of day?
My most productive brain time is between 5 and 8pm.
If you suddenly received a windfall of cash, what changes would you make to your space?
I’d buy my apartment building and my studio building where everyone would then live and work rent-free. I’d add even more skylights than we already have. I’d make a gorgeous deck on the roof. And I’d add radiating heat throughout the building and put in a sauna somewhere.
If you could move your house/block/neighborhood to another city, which one would it be, and why?
I really wouldn’t want to live and work anywhere else. But if I had to take my neighborhood to another city, it would be to Sao Paolo, or to Melbourne. Even though those are also great big cities, it’d be nice to have easier access to nature and tropical waters to swim in.