The decade was a transformative period for the artist. Tired of teaching in art school, she resigned and in 1981 relocated from Barnes in London to the remote Llyn peninsula in north-west Wales where she resolved “to paint like hell”.
The thick impasto oil, Dance of Ludi Magni (1984), is one of a selection of large-scale paintings and works on paper by Ayres on display at West End gallery Marlborough London.
Running until October 30 at the gallery’s space in Albemarle Street, it is the first exhibition of the artist’s work at Marlborough with some paintings “not seen for decades”. (Several of Ayres’ 1980s canvases were among the estimated £30m-50m of artworks lost in the fire at the Momart warehouse in east London in 2004.)
Prices range from £70,000-150,000 for paintings and £9000-18,000 for works on paper.
