North Sound 1979

Curator: Immediately, the scale strikes me. It's vast, a presence more than a picture. Editor: We're looking at John Hoyland's "North Sound," residing here at the Tate. Hoyland, born in 1934, leaves the date of this particular work unspecified. Curator: Interesting. The title hints at a geographical place, but it feels more like a mood, a spaciousness. The blocks of color resonate like chords. Editor: Consider the material applications, though. The texture is built up, the edges aren’t clean—there’s a real sense of the artist’s labor, the pushing and pulling of paint. It’s a physical creation. Curator: And each color carries a history. The blues, the reds—they have echoes in Rothko, in mythology. I see a fragmented landscape, imbued with feeling. Editor: For me, it’s the evidence of the hand, the decisions made in the studio. How the materials themselves shaped the final form. Curator: So, perhaps a dialogue between inner experience and outer expression, mediated through color and form. Editor: Yes, an artifact born from process, reflecting the means of its making.