Gemini

Stanley William Hayter

Hayter puts the universal laws of motion and change into a visual possibility. As he matured his colors got brighter and more electric, even fluorescent, and drift in crisscrossing, rhythmic movements. To create "Gemini" in 1970 Hayter used a zinc plate covered with a thin plastic sheeting and engraved through the sheet. He then applied aquatint and deep bit the plate, after which he covered the plate again and added a soft-ground texture which was etched with an open bite.

The image for "Gemini" is composed with two parallel lines, sort of "twins", that fluctuate in and out, rhythmically through the composition, forward to back with overlapping colors, evoking the sensation of movement and depth.

After experimenting with a number of color states he editioned the work printing it intaglio with a fluorescent green and added a violet red with a soft roller to the surface, such as this impression. "Gemini" was printed in an edition of 100, plus 20 artist's proofs by Hayter and Hector Saunier at Atelier 17. The work was the third of four images published by A.B. Lublin in New York in 1970.