The Exploration of Fire Art Intrigues Me

I often get asked by people if I was “that kid” back in school, the one who liked setting garbage cans on fire and blowing things up. The answer is no. I was never a pyromaniac, and I don’t believe I was ever more attracted to fire than anyone else. I started working with fire in my early twenties because it was the most efficient way to create the illustration. It really was as simple as that. Since those days, it has evolved into more of a tool, one that I still appreciate for how quickly it can create the vision in my mind. 

However, in the last 10 years, as I have continued to explore fire as an artistic medium, I have encountered other facets of it that I have found myself drawn to and enjoying. The main one is the idea of using this destructive element for creative purposes. This is extremely interesting to me. How incredible it is that I can create something beautiful out of something that’s so destructive. How many times have we all heard on the news about the acres and acres of land in California being destroyed by forest fires? Fire has the power to cause so much damage, yet it can also be used in a new way: to create unique art that will last for generations. 

I think fire has fascinated humans since we learned how to make it roughly 2 million years ago. No matter how technologically advanced we get, we are intrigued by it. How many times have you sat at a campfire and just stared into the flames, entranced by the blue, red, orange, and yellow colors? It can be mesmerizing, don’t you think? It’s also a really compelling force that can be used for cooking our food, keeping us warm at night in the winter, or burning down villages.

I love the idea of taking this sort of timeless and powerful element and finding a new purpose for it after thousands, even millions, of years. It makes me wonder, honestly, what else is out there to discover. Fire itself hasn’t changed. You light a match, and poof, there’s a flame. It must look the same to us as it did to the humans who first discovered it. Yet, here we are today, using something we’ve known about for so long in a different way. Our perception of it is changing.

So, what else is out there to be discovered? I think that’s one of the biggest challenges for today’s artists: to think outside of the box and reject the idea that there’s only one way to use something. I encourage them to step away from the traditional way of thinking about something and to view it with fresh eyes. Take mud, for example. I’ll admit that it’s not something I am particularly interested in, so don’t expect any mud portraits from me anytime soon. However, is there an artistic use for it? Can it be more than what gets caked on our shoes? I would be fascinated by an artist who was able to take different types of dirt - be it from a beach, a riverbank, the desert, or elsewhere), add water to it, and make something beautiful out of it. That’s the kind of innovation I respect in other artists: those who are not afraid to reject the definition of an object and to instead shake it up and see what happens.

Ultimately, I love making portraits using fire because I am creating a new medium. It is exciting to me that everytime I turn on my flamethrower or blow torch, I know that I am about to discover something new about using it to make portraits. It means every day is an adventure for me, one that I hope continues for years to come.