In Silence/Shapes, Italian artist Filippo Minelli juxtaposes violence and beauty by igniting homemade smoke bombs in romantic landscapes, then capturing the ephmereal explosions on camera. The ongoing series was launched in 2009 and continued recently with a commission from Storyline Studios, Norway’s largest movie firm, who hired the artist to create four Silence/Shapes photos for the company’s new ID. Those photos are the first four you see above.
Speaking to Artfinder, Minelli explained his process:
It all starts preparing smokebombs mixing dye and chemicals, but sometimes I use ready-made ones. It takes a long time to find the right place, this means walking a lot up in the mountains or in other environments, and it take a lot of time to find the perfect weather condition. Wind destroys the composition, so sometimes it’s a matter of finding the right perspective to have the smoke in the center of the image, and sometimes you have to go back for a new shooting.
The Silence/Shapes series has grown into a large body of work, which you can view in its entirety at Minelli’s website.
(via Public Delivery)