Wake 1968

This is 'Wake,' a 1958 print by Stanley William Hayter, and it’s a trip! Just looking at it makes me want to grab some tools and start gouging and inking. There's this wild energy, like waves of… well, wakes. You can almost feel Hayter wrestling with the plate, digging in, trying to capture the essence of movement. I wonder, was he thinking about boats, or maybe something more abstract, like the wake of an idea as it ripples through the mind? The orange lines create this kind of hypnotic background, while the blue ones squiggle and dart across the surface like a fast moving current. I love how the colours vibrate against each other, making the whole thing feel alive. It makes me think of other printmakers and painters who were also chasing this feeling of movement and energy, like Kandinsky and Miro. It’s all part of one big, messy, inspiring conversation.