Gillian Ayres

Broadcaster and Art Lover Andrew Marr Thinks She Is ‘britain’s Finest Abstract Painter’. Now With a New Retrospective and Book Focusing on Her Work, Sally Hales Asks Him Why We Should All Be Taking Notice

- Sally Hales

Now in her eighties, the Turner Prize-nominated Royal Academician who was made a CBE in 2011 – among other accolades – is, according to BBC broadcaster and art enthusiast Andrew Marr, “probably the finest abstract painter alive in Britain.” Yet Gillian Ayres’ name isn’t part of the public consciousness in the same way as many of her contemporaries. But that may be about to change. A fresh critical eye is being cast over her 60-year career with a major retrospective at the National Museum Cardiff, an exhibition of paintings and woodcuts at Alan Cristea Gallery in London and a new monograph by art critic Martin Gayford. Gillian Ayres’ place in the history of British abstract art looks increasingly undisputed.

A serious colourist whose bold forms and joyful compositions burst with movement and energy, Gillian’s long career has revolved around her obsession with using paint to capture an emotional response. She has experimented with media, scale and abstraction, while following her own exploratory path. “Her motifs are there to carry colour-energies, not to represent anything, even when they may look like fronds, leaves or stars,” says Andrew. “They aren’t symbols. One of her strengths is that, for Gillian, a painting is a painting is a painting.” And the artist has long eschewed offering a commentary on her work, letting her greens, blues, pinks and oranges do the talking. And this singular approach may have contributed to her low profile, says Andrew. “She does most of her work far from London, on the border between Devon and Cornwall, and seems entirely uninterested in playing any of the art games used to promote contemporary painters,” he says. “She just gets on with it, and lets the works speak for themselves. As, increasingly loudly, they do.”