My World Collides With Fire And Heat
When my artwork collides with gunpowder and fuse I have conflict.
Unafraid. (2015) 18" x 24" Fuse. Acrylic. Paper.
Strong, luminescent horizontal stripes, light and burned textures. Blues, purple, blacks and hint of orange split by burning 2mm fuse. I call them color grooves!
The color grooves create their own relationships through the blending and burned connections of the high-speed fuse and the working and reworking of the surface.
I named it "Unafraid" when my 93 year father was reciting by memory the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henry.
"Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid."
Unframed.
Primitive. Modern. Explosive.
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.
The explosion collides with my vision.
Duty collides with fear.
Love collides with guilt.
Ambition collides with my conscience.
I stand by a blank canvas and I am wracked by indecision.
Fears.
Misgivings.
Doubts.
Second thoughts.
Should I light the fuse?
I'm pathetic.
I'm looking for some strength, vigor, and color. Something powerful but with empathy.
I want my art to have time, color, texture, density and sense of motion.
This is not static.
I light the fuse.
My world collides with the fire and heat.
BOOM!
Stick Vega is the American Gunpowder Artist, former CEO, and author of LESS KILLING. Stick currently lives and creates explosive pop art at The Blast Factory in Madison, Wisconsin. Not limited to one medium, he works in gunpowder drawings and paintings, photography, digital art and writing. Follow Stick on Facebook and/orTwitter.