John Hoyland
Spirit of Venus 28.10.88, 1988
acrylic on canvas
152.4 × 152.4 cm (60 × 60 in)
Copyright The Artist
Further images
In the 1980s the orientation of Hoyland’s art shifted away from the transatlantic High Modernism that had developed in the wake Abstract Expressionism. He increasingly looked to earlier Modernisms, with...
In the 1980s the orientation of Hoyland’s art shifted away from the transatlantic High Modernism that had developed in the wake Abstract Expressionism. He increasingly looked to earlier Modernisms, with the example of Joan Miró of special importance. The move away from America heralded a more distinctly European set of concerns; but it also saw Hoyland find inspiration in cultures much more widely spread in time and space. The changes in his art in the 1980s brought with them a greater willingness to allow his paintings to allude to the wider world. Effects of chance were now embraced – pouring, splashing and employing gravity and resistance, allowing paintings to take their own form. Spirit of Venus 28.10.88, utilises a cosmic, calligraphic language.