Gold Fused Yellow  (2017)  16" x 24"  Fuse burned photograph.

Stunning yellows and gold split by a fast burning fuse.  This is the first in a new series of work that combines my photography, gunpowder and fast burning fuse into explosive art.

So this new work is a logical progression for me.  Fuse burned photographs.

The process and in practice though this is much tougher than you realize.

The photographic papers burn very quickly.  I need to work minimally and fast. 

Brisk.

Photographs scratch and mar easily. So I need to work in a light and delicate way.

Gentle.

Primitive.  Modern.  Explosive.  

Black metal frame. Glass. Matt. 

American gunpowder artist, Vega carefully places powder and fuses on the surface of the art, which he positions horizontally on the floor (or blast table). When ignited, first the fuses burns instantly along the cord lines, igniting the gunpowder and creating a blast, which then vanish in clouds of smoke. The result is a textured surface that looks and feels like an explosion—the art is blackened, charred, and erupted, arrested in a state of being created in a flash.

When the fuse is lit there is a moment of uncertainty. What will happen? It is at that moment that true art exists.