Method of simultaneus colors

Developed in the Hayter ‘s Atelier 17

In Hayter and followers we discover and celebrate innovations to the art of Engraving!. Hayter opened his Atelier 17 in 1927 in Paris. He closes in 1939 only to re-open in New York in 1940.There a prodigious meeting takes place: European artists meet their American counter part and work together totally new techniques .After Hayter,s death ,his followers J.Valladares and H. Saunier continue to carry on the torch of his inquisitive spirit and daring ways. From then on the Atelier was named Counterpoint to evoque that musical discipline in which the superposition of melodic lines may as well meet, reject , jump to specific tones ,fuse into one another or very well reach unimagined freedom of expression at the same time that it is firmly tied to strict use of consonance, specially during the baroque period..

In Music specially in the fugue you will always find: an alternance of single melodic lines which result into independent groups that answer each other or resolve into one another(forced again by the reigning laws of consonance of that time)
Similarly in this experimental Atelier composed by different techniques ,the “burin and the other traditional techniques undergo a series of “adventures” lead by the viscosity and chemical reactions of the various types of ink.They reject by means of adding solvents or oils in such a way that the colors almost like a counterpoint, join ,fuse into another or rejects , but each one of them keep their properties and independence of color intensity.

Another important step in n the achievement of various depths of color penetration into the plaque is the thickness (hardness or softness) of the roles .A chemical procedure takes place: that obtains the degree of or “bite” of depth into the plaque. Depending on these; colors will sink or elevate into the desired height .This procedure is contrary to the traditional one which has to separate each color by different plaques.

In order to obtain certain shades, the artist may even mix colors with flax seed oil and apply them with a spatula over the glass plaque; then a roll goes over the plaque always perpendicular to it and distributes them ,in the same order in which they were applied.The deeper colors and the surface colors create together spaces that complement each other over on the very same plaque.Allowing the artist to give birth his or pieces with almost the same possibilities as a painter in front of a canvas.

Hector is currently the Director of Contre-Point (Formally known as Atelier in Paris. He was born in Argentina in 1936 and studied architecture in Buenos Aires. Hector came to Europe in 1961. During that year, after seeing a print by S.W. Hayter at the Salon de Mai, he enrolled in Atelier 17, a printmaking workshop founded by S.W. Hayter in 1927. He studied printmaking under Hayter fot two years. When Hayter passed away in 1988, he took over the administration of the workshop and till today. Hector and his wife Hiroko are still managing it.

Hector has travel widely and exhibited in London, Buenos Aires, Washington, Rome, Luxemburgo, Sao Paulo, Osaka.