Tim Ayres (1965) is a visual artist who lives and works in Amsterdam. He studied at art academies in London and the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam.
His work often consists of text, portrait and abstract lines. The text paintings suggest a world of advertising, quick slogans, but they also make the reader think. The sentences and fragments of text are not simple. Ayres manipulates letters, breaks sentences at an odd place or shifts words, with which he strengthens or distorts the content of the text. Color and placement of the letters indicate the rhythm within the image.
Fragments of text from pop songs, novels and conversations, or seemingly recognizable images of faces or figures evoke a variety of associations in the viewer. Both the text paintings and the portraits, however, prove to be more than the depiction of a reality; they often display intriguing abstract properties.
Ayres distills his figurative representations from photographs that he edits on the computer: all gray tones are reduced to light or dark.
Tim Ayres uses brightly colored industrial varnishes to apply the images and texts to MDF board using stencils of adhesive foil. A final coat of varnish sometimes gives the works a sheen that allows the surroundings to be reflected in the image, or, when using semi-gloss, absorbs the surroundings.
The text works are strongly associative and often have a poetic charge. The fragments originate from books, film, music or that Ayres picks up from conversations. He is especially interested in how words are an abstract form and can evoke images. The panels and the work on paper are often compelling and elusive at the same time.
He is represented in numerous international private and museum collections such as the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
