Artist Steve Spazuk Paints with Fire

There aren't many people in the world who create art using fire.

But Steven Spazuk is one of them. The French-Canadian artist has perfect the technique called fumage, using a flame to blacken a canvas and create his masterpieces.

Using the flame of a candle or torch, he holds it close to a clean canvas, letting the smoke blacken patterns on to the surface.

He then develops the art by solidifying the edges of the soot shapes and adding in detail using paint brushes and even feathers.

His spectacular works include intricate portraits, a beautiful series of birds and dancing figures.

The artist released a video showing him producing his works of art set to music, showing the painstaking detail that goes into transforming the soot marks into familiar objects.

Spazuk has spent 14 years perfecting the art of fumage, following on from a successful career as a painter.

His website explains: 'Spontaneity and chance are the heart and soul of his creative process. He does not censor. He does not direct. Spazuk opens himself to the experience.' 

This is a lovely video profile of artist Steve Spazuk (previously) who has developed a unique way of “painting” using the soot left behind from candle smoke. While it seems like he just holds a candle to paper and draws with the smoke, his range of techniques are a bit more subtle. Spazuk often doesn’t know what images he intends to make but instead explores patterns and shapes found in the soot to guide the artwork. He also employs stencils and a reductive process akin to etching, where he scrapes images into the soot with feathers and paint brushes. You can see more of his recent work on his website. Directed by Patrick Peris. (via iGNANT)