Celebrating Colour and Creativity in Challenging Times
Gillian Ayres, the artist known for her vibrant use of colour and bold compositions, once spoke about indulging in colour, feasting on beauty, and feeling exhilarated when immersed in rich hues and textures. She advised against searching too deeply for meaning in her work, emphasizing the joy of visual experience.
In a period marked by uncertainty and gloom, a major retrospective exhibition of Ayres’ work in her adopted home region offers a refreshing and uplifting experience.
Entitled A Life in Colour, the exhibition at The Box in Plymouth has recently opened and presents a comprehensive re-examination of one of Britain’s most radical female artists.
Curatorial Perspective and Artistic Legacy
Hannah Hooks, contemporary art curator at The Box, described Ayres, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 88, as both formidable and brilliant.
“Her fearless commitment to painting is something to be celebrated,”
“She came of age in a postwar British art world dominated by men and remained entirely faithful to painting as it went in and out of fashion. Gillian was a painter’s painter. The fact that she isn’t better known by more people is something we hope to change.”
Hooks expressed that installing the paintings was a privilege.
“The colour knocks you off your feet. It’s incredible to be surrounded by it and to sense the movement of Gillian’s body, the way she’s creating balance and tension. There’s chaos and beauty in this riot of colour. She spoke of how colour made her feel heady; it was almost a spiritual experience for her.”
“We’re seeing this exhibition as a chance to think about the power of art and creativity to communicate emotion in a non-verbal way. It comes at a time when the creative subjects are under-funded and underrepresented so we want to champion and celebrate the power of the imagination.”
Art Beyond Intellectualisation
Hooks emphasized that Ayres did not intend for viewers to seek explicit meaning or representation in her work.
“It was not about meaning,”
“Ayres didn’t want people to try to make sense of her work, ‘intellectualise’ it or attempt to find the representation within it.”
“I think it’s really important in the world at the moment to find the space and time to look, to observe, to enjoy using your eyes, not to try to make sense of things but to really delight in a visual experience.”
Artist’s Background and Studio Life
Born in London in 1930, Gillian Ayres drew inspiration from artists such as Turner, Picasso, and Pollock, eventually establishing herself as a significant figure in her own right.
After spending time living and working in north Wales, she settled in north Devon for the last 30 years of her life. Her studio there was described as a “cheery muddle of paint-spatter, house plants, stepladders, tins of colour and canvasses.”
Exhibition Highlights and Artistic Range
The exhibition at The Box spans seven decades of Ayres’ work. It includes a landscape she painted in her teenage years and murals created in the 1950s to decorate a dining hall at a school in north London. These murals were covered over within a few years—fortunately only with wallpaper—and were later rediscovered in almost perfect condition.
Later works featured in the show are vibrant pieces created at her home in rural north Devon. Some are large-scale, with colours applied so thickly that the scent of oil paint still lingers around them.
Family Insights and Regional Connection
Ayres’ son, Sam Mundy, shared anecdotes about transporting her large paintings from their cottage.
“We used to have to borrow an old pickup truck and two people would sit in the back holding on to the paintings. We’d drive up the very steep hill with hairpin bends and meet a lorry at the top.”
Mundy also spoke about his mother’s strong connection to the English West Country.
“She liked western Britain,”
“She liked the drama of the landscape and the coast. She liked the sunset over the water. She would be pleased that this exhibition is being staged here.”
Exhibition Details
Gillian Ayres: A Life in Colour runs at The Box in Plymouth from Saturday until 20 September.
