Star Path

British artist Tom Hammick creates dreamlike, wistful worlds in painting and print. In this monumental color woodcut, he depicts the wondrous, dizzying feat of human space travel. A massive rocket ship dives toward the barren moon, leaving a verdant blue-green planet, the earth, behind. To represent the night sky, Hammick printed the grain of the woodblock support in dark blue, gouged with numerous small marks that stunningly evoke a vibrant firmament of shining stars. With its upside-down composition, gravity-defying rocket, and cold palette, Hammick conjures up a cold, dark, unnervingly silent and lonely world in outer space.