Vigil 1980

John Hoyland made "Vigil" with paint, and maybe some printmaking magic, at some point. I'm just imagining him in the studio, wrestling with these big blocks of color. That inky, almost bruised, purple-blue—it's got a somber mood, right? The dark rectangle hovers, a moody cloud. And then, that kind of muddy maroon rectangle is like an anchor. It is giving me Rothko vibes. Hoyland, like other painters, was exploring this space between representation and pure feeling. The texture of the paint isn't super thick. The thin layers allow for the white of the paper to breathe. These aren't just colors; they're feelings made visible. We are all constantly riffing off of one another, and that’s the great thing about painting. We are in this ongoing conversation, always pushing and pulling at what painting can do.