Parachute 1976

Stanley William Hayter made this print, Parachute, using engraving and etching, where vibrant lines of blue and green give way to a scribbled image of yellow. I’m thinking about how the artist must have approached the plate with the engraver's tool, letting his hand and mind go, spontaneously marking the surface, each cut a moment of thought and feeling, the composition shifting as he worked. It must have taken intense concentration, and a kind of freedom too. The texture in the background gives the sense of something moving, an object suspended in the air, or even a memory. I imagine Hayter thinking of Joan Miró's playful abstractions as he made this. It reminds us that artists are always in conversation, learning from each other, riffing on themes and styles. This print invites us to drift into its world, to embrace the dance between chaos and control.