Sound of Silence 1998

Gillian Ayres made this painting, Sound of Silence, with what looks like joyful abandon, layering shapes and colors that sing. I can almost feel Ayres at work, pushing paint around, maybe even whistling to herself. You can sense her energy and rhythm as she’s placing each form, letting the painting breathe and shift, emerge and change. The shapes dance, the colors sing, and the whole thing vibrates with life. You can see the texture, the surface. The paint seems to have been applied so thickly, so generously! What a beautiful confidence to build it up and then let those drips just be! In a way, this painting is not silent. It’s loud, energetic, and bold. It’s in conversation with so many other paintings, past and present. Artists learn from each other, steal from each other, and play off each other, inspiring new ways of seeing and feeling. And in the end, it's that ongoing conversation that keeps painting alive, inviting us to listen to its many voices.