Steven Spazuk (b. Canada, 1960) depicts the fluttering of small birds around a series of smoky instruments, employing his signature use of fire in a process called fumage. His exceptional mastery of the technique of sculpting traces of smoke and soot into distinctive compositions makes his work instantly recognizable. Spazuk’s creations carry a feeling of airy lightness. The tiny avian creatures seem about to alight on the smoldering instruments. Fluttering feathers, the wafting smoke, and the suggestion of notes on the breeze, all combine to create a distinctly ephemeral quality. Spazuk’s panels are akin to looking skyward to search the clouds for shapes and patterns. They seem to threaten to dissolve and re-shape themselves at any moment. The smoky saxophone, cymbal, and bass guitar all seem to be a visual play on the rhythmic beat of “hot” music. As the artist says, “Fire to me is so inspiring. Fire consumes, warms, and illuminates, but can also bring pain and death; thus, its symbolic meaning varies wildly, depending upon the context of its use. I mostly use it to talk about life’s fragility. . . . The soot deposit on paper is extremely fragile, it can easily be altered by any contact. Anything that brushes or touches the soot will leave its trace … That medium is now part of me.”