The Bird 11.8.02 is a painting full of life and vitality, greatly influenced by Hoyland’s travels. In the 1990s and early 2000s he spent a lot of time in Bali and Jamaica which had a great effect on him. Hoyland states, ‘Bali confirmed realities – of colour, pattern and movement – already known and illuminated by an interior light.’ The radiance and sheer beauty he experienced there made its way into the paintings. ‘I came back with so many ideas, so many archetypal structures that I could try to hang my thoughts and feelings on.’

Images of flight reoccur in his work. ‘The birds that appear as dynamic cruciform ideograms echo the soaring and scything of seagulls in front of his studio windows in London. The swooping flight of birds, the airborne arabesques, the flow back and away: it’s not so much a bird he paints as an equivalent, a potent sign of speed and movement.’

The pours of luscious paint in The Bird evoke chance and freedom. Hoyland carefully constructs the illusion of chance. Implementing techniques of throwing, pouring, staining, and flicking paint gives the work visceral energy. For these seemingly spontaneous actions, he developed a range of sophisticated automatic techniques, stating ‘with acrylic you can draw from the mist. The movements are almost balletic. You have to rehearse them.’