When the Sun Casts a Shadow

Works by Nick Maltagliati, Brent Hayden, and E Dyer
Introduction and Bios

Nick Maltagliati

Bio:
Nick Maltagliati is a Bay Area native working in painting, drawing, mixed media, and installation. He earned his Art History & Fine Art BA degree at San Francisco State University. He has shown with Mothbelly, The Search, Helvella Art, The Drawing Room, ArtFuse, Root Division, and 111 Minna Gallery. He has curated and produced art events and continues to uplift the artist community by actively working as a preparator and coordinator for galleries and art non-profits.

Statement:
Working with movement and line work, I subvert the standard landscape by pushing and pulling the perspective, shifting color relationships, and adding an overall abstracted lens. I collect visual data of my surroundings, especially the Californian hillsides, and found photography to arrange surrealistic-scapes, playing with perspective and flatness. I take the lines we see in nature like tree bark, pathways, roads, water ripples, and typography lines to create dynamic compositions. My oil paintings showcase my interpretation of our lost mysticism with nature through free-flowing gesticulation. 

E Dyer

Bio: 
E Dyer is a San Francisco based artist. Her work has been exhibited in numerous local galleries, including Fleet Wood, Moth Belly, Rosebud, One and Done, Totally Rad, and Soft Times. E has also contributed pieces to benefit auctions for organizations such as Hospitality House and the Coalition on Homelessness. Her zines have been carried by venues across the city, including City Lights Bookstore. In 2020, she designed a mural for St. Anthony’s 70 Years of Hope project at Alamo Square Park, and in 2025 completed a mural for the Compton Cafateria Riot Immersive Theatrical Experience on Myrtle and Larkin. She earned her Painting and Drawing BFA from University of North Texas and Studio Practice MFA at California College of the Arts. 

Statement:
What does it mean to be a part of a neighborhood? How often is it we get to take a moment to stop and look around? Hi! It's nice to meet you. My name is E. I'm an artist living and working in San Franscisco. I make paintings and zines about walking around the city. Walking gives us a chance to slow down and for our thoughts to catch up with us. Walking is a way for us to connect to the neighborhoods we live in. Walking makes it easier to meet people; to stop and look around. In life, scenes exist as a memory—a meditation of the past and what is to come. Painting requires me to slow down, like walking through my neighborhood. Thank you for walking with me on such a beautiful day. 

Brent Hayden

Bio:
Hayden (b. 1988) is a San Francisco based artist working out of Mini Mart Studios, an artist-run studio and gallery space he founded in 2021 in the Tenderloin district. Originally from Houston, Texas, Hayden relocated to San Francisco in 2012 to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography at the Academy of Art University, which he completed in 2017.

Mini Mart Studios has since become both a site of production and community, a space dedicated to giving local artists opportunities for exhibitions, workshops, to host events, as well as being the home to five studio artists. The upcoming exhibition at MAG Gallery marks a significant moment, as it will be the first time that the artists working within these shared studio spaces will exhibit together in a formal gallery setting, highlighting the collective energy and dialogue that has developed within the space.

Statement:
Hayden’s work resists a single overarching concept. Instead, it unfolds as an evolving visual language—vibrant, rhythmic, and immersive. Each piece operates as an act of world-building, contributing to a larger emotional and atmospheric landscape. His compositions are driven by color, gesture, and movement, often balancing precision with spontaneity. While primarily a painter, Hayden embraces unpredictability in his process, intentionally working with materials and methods that invite chance, disruption, and transformation. The resulting works carry an enigmatic quality—familiar yet elusive, structured yet untamed.

“I strive to capture the essence of a moment—whether it’s the intensity of a bustling metropolis, the serene drama of waves crashing against cliffs, or the unique architectural details revealed during a twilight walk.” This pursuit of atmosphere over narrative allows his work to function less as documentation and more as translation—transforming lived experience into layered visual rhythm. His background in photography continues to inform his sensitivity to framing, light, and composition, even as his practice expands beyond the lens.

In addition to painting, Hayden creates jewelry, extending his interest in materiality and form into wearable objects. This sculptural sensibility reinforces his attention to texture, detail, and intimacy of scale. With an extensive background in curating, he approaches art not only as an individual practice but as a communal endeavor—one that fosters dialogue, accessibility, and shared creative momentum.