I had a chance to speak with an amazing artist Steven Spazuk, who explained that for over 10 years he has been perfecting his art technique of using candle and torch flames. The process consists of partially burning thick pieces of paper, and with various tools Spazuk draws directly on the soot. You can view the artist working on several art pieces in the video within post.

Notes from the artist’s statement:

[…]

Spontaneity and chance are the heart and soul of my creative process. I do not censor. I do not direct. I open myself to the experience. This in-the-moment creative practice coupled with the fluidity of the soot, creates a torrent of images, shadows and light. Fuelled by the quest of a perfect shape that has yet to materialize, I concentrate in a meditative act and surrender to capture the immediacy of the moment on canvas.

The human body fascinates me. Bodies in a perpetual metamorphosis are the language with which I express my thoughts on the human condition: emotions, opinions, stories that are born of my uncensored psyche. I often work piece by piece, collecting a multitude of unique elements that I assemble into mosaics. Entities that, once grouped together, afford a different meaning and provide a new perspective that is both novel and complementary. I see fragments of things, events, people, as a powerful metaphor of modern life and, even more so, of the way we perceive things through our senses and our minds. My work expresses how every one of us is a constituent fragment of the human community.

Serendipitously, I am now encountering the reverse side of the mosaic. I am interested in the deconstruction of prescribed shapes and contours and an eclectic approach to a compilation of ideas which, like the flame of my candle, will lead me to more fortuity in the creation of my art.