Painting is between the noise of the bells and running water, between bird and leaf, between the wind and the earth.
— John Hoyland, 1997
Hales is delighted to announce Flames Like Rainbows, a solo exhibition of works by John Hoyland. This debut show with Hales focuses on paintings from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s — a key period in Hoyland’s oeuvre, marking a departure from pure abstraction, allowing the outside world to enter his art.
Flames Like Rainbows exhibits paintings greatly influenced by Hoyland’s travels. Struck by the visual splendour of Bali, Hoyland’s practice dramatically shifts — introducing direct references to the world. Previously, compositions had been made up of a central calligraphic shape, which is replaced by unmistakable forms, such as trees, flags and cascades of water.
Combining the personal, sensuous, and topographical, Flames Like Rainbows exhibits dynamic works which embody the experience of travel. In this period of painting Hoyland introduced a whole new range of possibilities, which he would continue to pursue up until his death in 2011.
