Before Time (Mysteries 12) 05-01-11 2011

John Hoyland made this painting, Before Time (Mysteries 12) 05-01-11, with what looks like acrylic paint, splattering and pooling on the canvas in an intuitive, almost cosmic dance. I can imagine Hoyland in the studio, circling the canvas, lost in thought, maybe listening to music, as he throws the paint with a sense of abandon, building up layers, like a sculptor. The paint is thick in places, thin in others, creating a surface that feels alive. It is as if the colour is a character. The red circle, with its inner core of blues and greens, is particularly striking; It’s a gesture, a statement, a question mark. Hoyland was clearly in conversation with the Abstract Expressionists, like Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis, but he was doing his own thing, pushing the boundaries, finding new ways to make a painting sing. Artists are always talking to each other across time, and Hoyland’s paintings are part of this ongoing conversation, inspiring us to see the world in new ways.