Halley's prints have long focused on the image of the explosion, beginning with 1993 silkscreen print titled Explosion. The chaotic-expressive energy erupting from these vibrant images is in complete opposition to the strictly delimited, rectangular color planes of the cells, prisons and conduits that make up his painted works. In a very small edition of only 8 prints, the works are remarkable for their special, sophisticated printing technique and the high-quality presentation. In 2013, Carl Solway Gallery published his most recent edition of 16 unique low relief works titled Exploding Cell that were digitally designed and carved from polystyrene with a CNC router. Explosion describes the acute state of sudden resolution of the rigid diagrammatic structure, the prevailing enforced order that Peter Halley focuses on in his paintings. The explosion is thus a different, new state of the rigid 'Cells', and therein lies the artist’s intended ambivalence of the explosion: it is not destruction but liberation.

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Image: Peter Halley, Explosion #2