With It (2017)  16" x 24"  Fusograph.

Flowing blues and soft grays and whites split by hand-held, slow burning fuse.  This is part of a new series of work that combines my photography, hand-held and fast burning fuse.  I call these new works fusographs.

The image origin is sky and Lake Monona shot with my Fuji X100.  The burn is sticking with the white line.  It is sticking "With It".

Fusographs are logical progression for me as my work continues to evolve. 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.  

Unframed.

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.