58 Bermondsey Street
London SE1 3UD
Flying Wild marks what would have been John Hoyland’s 90th birthday year.
When considering Hoyland’s five decades of creative output, you cannot fail to acknowledge his fearless approach to his work, born out of a passion for the wider world, cultures of far-flung places, away from the grey of his native Sheffield. From his first trip abroad as a student on the Cote d’Azur, to his many years spent visiting Jamaica with his wife Beverley, he was constantly driven to find new and surprising visual poetry. Back in the London studio these experiences fed into the music, heat and light of his paintings and allowed him to create images that seem to have come from another dimension. Hoyland was a tireless traveller of the imagination.
This expansive mindedness and willingness to ‘try anything’ freed him up to create some extraordinary bodies of work, including ceramic and glass sculptures, theatre sets and costumes for the Ballet Rambert, and a mosaic mural for the Rome Metro. However, Hoyland’s printmaking is as much a vital part of his artistic legacy as his painting, showcasing his innovation and mastery of colour and form.
