In today’s world, artists get very creative in terms of the mediums they use for their artwork, as well they invent new, innovative techniques in art-making to be more original and prominent on the market.
You might have thought that you’ve already seen everything, with contemporary modern art being in such a boom nowadays, but there are still things that can appear fresh and new. One of them is fumage, a type of art technique where the artist uses real fire and smoke to create images on paper. Steven Spazuk is a very good fire artist, tweaking and shifting the flames and smoke to “sculpture” amazing pictures of birds and other objects.
Even though he didn’t invent this exciting technique himself, something about his artwork caught the attention of the public. In his recent collaboration with Zippo who became the artist’s sponsor, he explained that the idea first came to him in a dream.
His newest set of work was recently on show at Boston’s Adelson Galleries, According to Spazuk, it continues his exploration into the fragility of our world. Mainly focusing on imagery of birds—the delicate nature of their wings and feathers mirrored by the wispy plumes of smoke that trail behind them—Spazuk’s creations invite viewers to step into his ephemeral, fantasy world. The technique combined with acrylics makes Spazuk’s work so extraordinary and fascinating.
“Fire consumes, warms, and illuminates,” he explains, “but can also bring pain and death; thus, its symbolic meaning varies wildly, depending upon the context of its use. I mostly use it to talk about life’s fragility. Exploring this fragility is the very essence of my work as a fire artist,” he added.
