Accession Code: wu0743 Title: Skudia Date completed: 1994 Medium: Painting Material: Oil Height (mm): 610 Width (mm): 610 Depth (mm): n/a Inscription: n/a Location Name: Zeeman Building Location Description: Mathematics Institute Location Floor: 2

In 1960 and 1961 Gillian Ayres was included in the two 'Situation' exhibitions in London which were devoted to large-scale abstract works inspired by the American Abstract Expressionist movement. Ayres had seen a photograph of Jackson Pollock working on canvases on the floor and decided to dispense with brushes to produce large gestural paintings in acrylic.

She developed an individual approach to colour which she manipulated to evoke different feelings and emotions. She turned from acrylic to oils, and brushes in about 1978 and created a recognisable style, exemplified in Skudia, in which the physical character of the paint, applied in a heavy impasto, has a dominant role.

Skudia was purchased in 1996 with assistance from the Friends of the Mead.