Wolfgang Paalen, Austrian, active in Mexico, 1905 – 1959 Smoke Painting (Fumage), 1938
Fumage is a surrealist art technique popularized by Wolfgang Paalen in which impressions are made by the smoke of a candle or kerosene lamp on a piece of paper or canvas. Similar to other surrealist art, the marks were allowed to bring up semi-unintentional shapes that the artist could respond to.
Today, use smoke and flame from a candle to make marks on paper. Hold the paper at an angle above a candle so the flame just darkens it. See what the marks do. Please be careful, and have some water and non-burning surface nearby. If you burn yourself, or if you start a fire, you forfeit your right to win a prize.
Thankyou for sharingyourwork! I love seeing these artworks online. People who post to Instagram or on Facebook will be eligible to win prizes (see details). No matter where you post, tag us so we can find it. #seattleartistleague #salchallenge #fumage
The June SAL Challenge: Creative exercises once a day for 30 days.
I asked Shruti Ghatak, one of our instructors at the League, if there were any interesting books she was reading. Shruti: “Currently I am reading ‘The Shape of Content’ by Ben Shahn.” “Love the first paragraph! Shahn wrote about the practice and purpose of art with such clarity!” “This reminds me of my mentor Graham …
Search the internet for perspective, and Western perspective is pretty much all you’ll see. Billions of lessons illustrating the importance of one point, two point, and three point perspective. Lessons state that this is something every artist needs to learn in order to correctly render the three dimensional world on a two dimensional surface. It …
In the late 1940s, several prominent artists of the New York School– including Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko and Frank Stella–were intently studying the color black. That work, interrelated but not collaborative, resulted in 20 years of black: textured black, striped black, blue-black, brown-black, black-black, blackish, and blackity-black-black paintings. With a Google image search, …
Day 10 of this 30 Day Challenge was to create something in the style of Morandi’s still lives. This particular prompt produced a prolific collection of quiet responses. Here are some.
SAL Challenge: Fumage
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Smoke Painting (Fumage), 1938
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Antonio Muniz
Thank you for sharing your work! I love seeing these artworks online. People who post to Instagram or on Facebook will be eligible to win prizes (see details). No matter where you post, tag us so we can find it. #seattleartistleague #salchallenge #fumage
The June SAL Challenge: Creative exercises once a day for 30 days.
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I asked Shruti Ghatak, one of our instructors at the League, if there were any interesting books she was reading. Shruti: “Currently I am reading ‘The Shape of Content’ by Ben Shahn.” “Love the first paragraph! Shahn wrote about the practice and purpose of art with such clarity!” “This reminds me of my mentor Graham …
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Search the internet for perspective, and Western perspective is pretty much all you’ll see. Billions of lessons illustrating the importance of one point, two point, and three point perspective. Lessons state that this is something every artist needs to learn in order to correctly render the three dimensional world on a two dimensional surface. It …
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In the late 1940s, several prominent artists of the New York School– including Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko and Frank Stella–were intently studying the color black. That work, interrelated but not collaborative, resulted in 20 years of black: textured black, striped black, blue-black, brown-black, black-black, blackish, and blackity-black-black paintings. With a Google image search, …
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Day 10 of this 30 Day Challenge was to create something in the style of Morandi’s still lives. This particular prompt produced a prolific collection of quiet responses. Here are some.