Gillian Ayres, considered one of Britain's premier abstractionists, will have her first major solo exhibition in the United States at the Yale Center for British Art.
This showcase of Ms. Ayres' paintings, a last-minute addition to the museum's schedule, will open on Thursday, May 1, and continue through Sunday, July 6. The show comes to New Haven from the Royal Academy of Arts in London and is among the events celebrating the British Art Center's 20th anniversary this spring. It will also serve as one of the center's contributions to the city's International Festival of Arts and Ideas, June 25-29.
Ms. Ayres is an "artist of great brilliance," according to Patrick McCaughey, director of the British Art Center, who adds, "she deserves much wider international recognition, which we hope to provide her."
The artist's works are wholly abstract, although filled with signs and symbols designed to engage the viewer. While the paintings may seem spontaneous in nature, the artist may work on them over the course of weeks, months or years. As a result of this reworking, the surface of each canvas is densely covered with brilliantly colored pigment.
While this exhibit concentrates on Ms. Ayres' most recent paintings, her newest work is shown in the context of her entire career. Among the works on display will be "Turkish Blue and Emerald Green that in the Channel Stray," "Midnight Shout," "Sucked- Up Sunslips," "Altair," "A Painted Tale" and "Cumuli."
A Londoner by birth, Ms. Ayres trained at Camberwell School of Art. In 1960, she was featured in "Situation" at the Royal British Academy Galleries, the first large-scale exhibition of abstract works by British artists. Since then, she has shown in many group exhibitions, and in 1991 was the sole British representative in the Seventh Triennale in India. Her works are represented in the Tate Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, as well as many private and public collections in Europe and the United States. A teacher at several art academies over the years, Ms. Ayres has been painting full-time since 1981, and now lives on the coast of Cornwall. She was elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1982 and was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1986.
The Yale Center for British Art, located at 1080 Chapel St., is open to the public free of charge 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. The building is wheelchair-accessible. For more information, call 432-2800, or visit the museum's World Wide Web site at http://www.yale.educ/ycba.