Explosions, Energy, And My Alternative Universe!

I spend a lot time with gunpowder, fuse and the resulting explosions, drawings, and paintings. That is my natural reality. It may surprise you to know I spend a lot of time on my computer.  It is maybe not so surprising when you realize a couple of things.  First, most of my work is exploded outside and when the studio space is covered with snow and ice it is difficult to work.  Second, I need images, lots of images, to keep me engaged and to think through what I am creating.

I am never without a camera and I shoot all of the photos I work from.  (I light the fuse, jump back and snap a bunch of photos). Then I use camerabag two and photoshop to refine lighting, saturation and colors. From there I will crop, split colors and perhaps blur the image. I work hard at it.  I have taken thousands of photographs of my explosions and finished work.  I've spent hundreds of hours refining them.

See,  every explosion is different.  And I am always trying to figure out a way to show you what I see in my head.  Each gunpowder painting I do has it own unique mission and personality. The images I shoot of the fire, explosions, smoke and finished art help me understand what I am looking at.  It is a frame of reference, some times more specific, sometime more abstract. The images I create help my mind sort it all out.

People have requested I do more video, as my explosions can be like fireworks and a lot of fun. I will do more of that in the future. (It is a blast!). But it is the image work that I do, my photoworks, that I hope show the depth of energy and the alternative universe I live in with each and every piece of art I explode.

Boom! 

Stick Vega is the American Gunpowder Artist.  He creates explosive pop art and blogs from The Blast Factory in Madison, WI and Bucktown, Chicago, IL.  Follow Stick at Facebook and/or Twitter.