John Hoyland
Paintings and Works on Paper
John Hoyland has been firmly established in the upper echelons of British painting since the early 1960s. For three decades his solo exhibitions have provided an inspiration and a focal point for younger artists. Now 59 (at the time of the exhibition) he is painting with what can only be termed a heightened awareness.
In many peoples' view he is one of the finest painters in Britain. At his best, Hoyland has painted some of the strongest abstract paintings in British art since Nicholson. From the beginning the main concern of John Hoyland's work has been the use of colour as an expressive vehicle: saturating each canvas with colour while keeping the actual vehicle or colour the mark or shape, as simple as possible.
From the outset Hoyland has extended a dialogue with certain issues in the air which has always gone far beyond any verifiable influence. His paintings are ablaze with authority and independence. They work as abstract structures, but they sometimes also look like mountains and hills, a distant plain, or the sea. In some of the earlier variations on abstract themes, it was always hard not to see a wall or blazing fire, or the converging flat walls in the corner of a mysteriously empty room.
John Hoyland's pictures are spectacular affirmations of the human spirit; with traceries of action and strong feeling they sustain their grand scale. His new paintings are among the finest made by any British artist of these times.
In many peoples' view he is one of the finest painters in Britain. At his best, Hoyland has painted some of the strongest abstract paintings in British art since Nicholson. From the beginning the main concern of John Hoyland's work has been the use of colour as an expressive vehicle: saturating each canvas with colour while keeping the actual vehicle or colour the mark or shape, as simple as possible.
From the outset Hoyland has extended a dialogue with certain issues in the air which has always gone far beyond any verifiable influence. His paintings are ablaze with authority and independence. They work as abstract structures, but they sometimes also look like mountains and hills, a distant plain, or the sea. In some of the earlier variations on abstract themes, it was always hard not to see a wall or blazing fire, or the converging flat walls in the corner of a mysteriously empty room.
John Hoyland's pictures are spectacular affirmations of the human spirit; with traceries of action and strong feeling they sustain their grand scale. His new paintings are among the finest made by any British artist of these times.