"Tim Ayres’ work Study for an Italian poem (“on beautiful foolish arms”) (2023) emerged from a combination of possibility, circumstance, and self-reflection. The possibility of creating frescos for a church undergoing restoration in Italy, the chance encounter with Raphael’s Saint Catherine of Alexandria at London’s National Gallery, and his ongoing fascination with the myth of Icarus. In Ayres’ version, Icarus survives, swims to shore, and reflects on his experience. Born in Hastings in 1965, Ayres completed his studies at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam in 1991. It was during this time that he began creating his distinctive text-based paintings. Like his contemporaries Ryan McGinness and Christopher Wool, he explores the limits of language through deconstruction and recontextualization. His work has been exhibited at institutions such as the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam and is part of collections including the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and The New York Public Library."