Chapter 1: Connect - 50 Endangered Species

ADELSON GALLERIES PRESENTS

SPAZUK

F!RE F!RE F!RE CHAPTER 1

THE 50 ENDANGERED SPECIES COLLECTION

« My art is based on a sustained exploration of new dimensions and applications of the technique of “fumage”, that is, painting with fire. The focus of my subjects, projects and collections is the relationships between humans and the natural world.

My work explores the current reality of the climate crisis and the Anthropocene through lenses that highlight the ambivalence of humanity. This duality of human nature is reflected in the medium of fire, and carbon as soot, both of which hold the power to nurture or destroy life. » ---- Steven Spazuk

Adelson Galleries presents Spazuk’s FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!: a story telling and virtual experience. Working with fire as his primary creation tool, Spazuk’s Fumage, embodies the polarity of creation and destruction. The artist’s work explores human’s ambivalent relationship with the natural world through the lens of the climate crisis and the Anthropocene. Bridging the illusive gap between human beings and Nature through his choice of elemental media, carbon from soot, Spazuk exemplifies that there is potential to create beauty, contemplation and possibility when working with Nature, rather than against it.

Inspired by the outbreak of global fires due to the climate crisis, FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! is the artist’s perspective and response to the state of urgency that is our present moment. Released in three chapters, the collection narrates Spazuk’s realistic optimism on climate justice and systemic change. The virtual show is divided into chapters: Connect, Understand and Act, proposing a cyclical approach toward converging actions of reparation. In order to arrive at a state of systemic balance, notions of linearity and separateness must be deconstructed. Unlike classical methods of storytelling, (taking the structure of beginning, middle and end), Spazuk aims to create a recurrent unfolding process, where usually defined, finite sections are now interwoven and interdependent. There is no end and no beginning, there is only presence and re-presentation. Such is the language of art; to represent, to engage with, to question what we have been given, and ask where we go from here.

The experience of witnessing Spazuk’s work sparks engagement and an embrace of the discomfort that inevitably comes with change. Spazuk’s practice awakens us to the fact that there is no easy fix, no happy ending that wraps up the tale into a pretty bow. Instead, there is a line of understanding that carries us through the cycles of undoing and rebuilding. Like flames rising from the ashes, built on the rubble of the past; we are reminded that with all destruction there is potential for a powerful creative force to rise up and illuminate the way forward. We are always already, turning the page, humbly bearing witness to the call forward.

CHAPTER 1 • CONNECT

We are in an environmental crisis. The threat is imminent, and yet, as human beings, we are struggling to recognize the urgency of required collective action. Spazuk presents 50 Endangered Species, in an attempt to activate engagement, shining a light on the surface of the 6th mass extinction and reconnect us to the significance of Nature and our preservation of it.

50 Endangered Species is a collection of varying sized wood panels with candle soot and gold leaf edges. Each piece depicts a distinct species threatened by extinction, from various kingdoms. The work has an almost photo-realistic quality to it; making the confrontation with each creature feel deeply personal and intimate. These creatures are vanishing before we ever recognized their presence on this planet. The subject of each piece is chosen from the IUCN, Red List. The list is a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity, comprised of 32,000+ species. Like the Red List, Spazuk pulls these creatures back into universal focus. He invites the viewer to witness these beings with intimacy and acknowledgement. He asks the viewer to fall into love with them, to engage in seeking justice from this place - one of reverence.

Captured, as partially disappearing in wisps of smoke, Spazuk evokes the fleeting reality of these creatures. The gesture to swiftly capture them in ephemeral smoke, evokes the desperate and poetic sentiment of the artist’s plea. 50 Endangered Species, works as an ecosystem. Individually, the pieces are stunning, striking and personal, but together, they are all encompassing. The work hangs like a web of varying dimension and depth.

Standing in front of 50 Endangered Species, we are confronted with all that we are losing, face to face. This confrontation creates a dual effect; we are forced to recognize the faces subject to our ignorance and take responsibility, and we are also washed over with a wave of awe for their beauty.

The multi-dimensional materiality of the structure (its varying depths and sizes) creates an almost topographical or breath-like effect when experiencing the piece as a whole. The artist metaphorically illicites breath from the still images, activating their depth, bringing life back into them. The biophilic response that ensues from witnessing the work’s totality, is precisely Spazuk’s activistic tactic; to reconnect the viewer with other forms of life. To rediscover our kinship to all life forms on this planet. Like 50 Endangered Species, we are an ecosystem, when ripped from our context, from all creatures on this planet, we fall into the fallacy of separateness. When we learn to extend our view past our immediate experience, as Spazuk invites us to, we are wakend to all the other forms of life that are fleeting, magnificent and imperative, if we make it so. We are more whole with them and it’s time we recognize that.

size : 5 feet 6 inches high by 13 feet and 6 inches wide.

The 50 Endangered Species collection can be arranged in various designs depending on where it will be displayed.

Every individual panel varies in size and depth and comes with its respective certificate

All panels are UV-protected with archival varnish, and are finished with gold leaf edges creating a warm glow once hung on a white wall

Manis crassicaudata (Indian Pangolin), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 9 x 12 inches 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm

Haliaeetus leucoryphus (Pallas’s Fish-Eagle), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 12 x 10 inches 30.48 cm x 25.4 cm

Leopardus jacobith (Adean Cat), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 12 inches (30.48 cm)

Glyptemys muhlenbergii (Bog Turtle), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8 x 10 inches 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm

Pithecopus ayeaye (Leaf Frog Phylomedusa) 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 12 x 10 inches 30.48 cm x 25.4 cm

Choeropus liberiensis (Pygmy Hippopotamus) 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 10 x 12 inches 25.4 cm x 30.48 cm

Pseudophryne corroboree (Corroboree Frog) 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 10 x 12 inches 25.4 cm x 30.48 cm

Addax nasomaculatus (Addax) 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 10 x 12 inches 25.4 cm x 30.48 cm

Arabitragus jayakar (Arabian Thar) 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 10 x 12 inches 25.4 cm x 30.48 cm

Tarsius tumpara (Siau Island Tarsier) 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 12 x 10 inches 30.48cm x 25.4 cm

Plantanthera praeclara (Western Prairie Fringed Orchid) 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 10 x 12 inches 30.48 cm x 25.4 cm

Neomonachus schauinslandi (Hawaiian Mon Seal), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 12 x 10 inches 30.48 cm x 25.4 cm

Equus grevyi (Grevy’s Zebra) 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 9 x 12 inches 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm

Sphyrna mokarran (Great Hammerhead) 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 9 x 12 inches 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm

Medusagyne oppositifolia (Jellyfish Tree) 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 9 x 12 inches 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm

Pteropus niger (Greater Mascarene Flying Fox), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 9 x 12 inches 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm

Atelopus certus (Darien Stubfoot Toad), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8.5 x 11 inches 21.6 cm x 28 cm

Protobothrops sieversorum (Three Horned-scaled Pitviper), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8.5 x 11 inches 21.6 cm x 28 cm

Bos javanicus (Banteng), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 9 x 12 inches 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm

Delphinapterus leucas (Beluga Whale-Eastern Hudson Bay), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 9 x 12 inches 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm

Myrmecobius fasciatus (Mumbat), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 14 x 11 inches 35.5 cm x 28 cm

Lontra felina (Marine Otter), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 14 x 11 inches 35.5 cm x 28 cm

Heteroglaux blewitti (Forest Owlet), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 14 x 11 inches 35.5 cm x 28 cm

Nicrophorus americanus (Amercan Burying Beetle), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 9 x 12 inches 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm

Gorilla beringei (Eastern Gorilla) , 2021 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 9 x 12 inches 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm

Cinclodes aricomae (Royal Cinclodes), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 9 x 12 inches 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm

Pachliopta jophon (Malabar Rose), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 9 x 12 inches 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm

Balaenoptera musculus (Blue Whale), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8 x 10 inches 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm

Lynx pardinus (Iberian Lynx), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 9 x 12 inches 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm

Burramys Parvus (Mountain Pygmy Possum), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8 x 10 inches 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm

Iberus gualtieranus, 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8 x 10 inches 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm

Archaius tigris (Tiger Chameleon), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8 x 10 inches 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm

Bombus franklini (Franklin’s Bumble Bee), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8 x 10 inches 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm

Phonoena sinus (Vaquita), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8 x 10 inches 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm

Anodorhynchus glaucus (Glaucous Macaw), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8 x 10 inches 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm

Dipodomys gravipes (Kangourou Rat), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8 x 10 inches 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm

Afrithelphusa monodosa (Purple Marsh Crab), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8 x 10 inches 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm

Pseudoryx nghetinhensis (Saola), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8 x 10 inches 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm

Hippocampus whitei (White’s Seahorse), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8 x 10 inches 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm

Astrochelys yniphora (Ploughshare Tortoise), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 8 x 10 inches 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm

Mammiliaria herrerae (Mammiliaria herrerae Cactus), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 12 x 12 inches 30.48 cm x 30.48 cm

Pseudoyersinia canariensis (Canary Dwraf Mantis), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 12 x 12 inches 30.48 cm x 30.48 cm

Lepus flavigularis (Tehuantepec Jackrabbit), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 12 x 12 inches 30.48 cm x 30.48 cm

Numerius borealis (Eskimo Curlew), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 12 x 12 inches 30.48 cm x 30.48 cm

Trachypithecus poliocephlus (Cat Ba Langur), 2020 Soot from fire on wooden panel 12 x 12 inches 30.48 cm x 30.48 cm

Cystoderma carpaticum (rare fungus), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 12 x 12 inches 30.48 cm x 30.48 cm

Pongo abelli (Sumatran Orangutan) 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 10 x 12 inches 30.48 cm x 25.4 cm

Cerambyx cerdo (Cerambyx Longicorn), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 12 inches (30.48 cm)

Amazalia boucardi (Mangove Humminbird), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 10 inch (25.4 cm)

Ramphastos ariel (Arial Toucan), 2020 Soot from fire on gessoed panel 16 x 12 inches 40.64 cm x 30.48 cm