Stars and Disasters (Astres et Désastres) 1969

This print is by Pierre Alechinsky, called "Stars and Disasters", and it's got this swirling vortex thing going on. I imagine him in the studio, maybe some jazz playing, just letting the hand go where it wants. The concentric lines pull you in, right? Like staring into a drain. There’s a sense of cosmic energy here, these little blobs orbiting a central core, like planets. The palette is pretty tight, blues and reds kinda fighting with yellows. The paper looks pulpy, which somehow makes it feel so raw. I can feel him searching, Alechinsky, wrestling with it. You can see echoes of Miro and maybe some Gorky in the way he’s letting the subconscious dribble out. We’re all just riffing off each other, right? Trying to make sense of the big mess, and maybe make something beautiful out of it. You get the feeling anything could happen, and that's the beauty of it.