After the monochromatic density of Harry Clarke’s macabre illustrations, our prompt for The Kick-About No.91, we’re going off with a bang in this latest showcase of new works made in a short time, inspired by the pyrotechnics of gunpowder artist, Cai Guo-Qiang. For all previous editions of The Kick-About, visit the archive here.
Gary Thorne
“A challenge #92, as the scale of C. Guo-Qiang’s work was daunting yet movement and the puff-ball explosion preoccupied me, as was a need to hold onto passing moments. Seeing the swaying sea of Crocosmia sadly cease its joyous summer dance kick-started this willow reed half-sphere frame at 1 metre diameter, upon which were inter-woven the autumn cuttings. Let the wind now shake and stir the senses.“
Marion Raper
“As I don’t have any gunpowder in my Art Cupboard I decided to work in ordinary acrylic paint but in an explosive manner! Here is the result, which was fun to do, and if you squint a bit and shout “Ooh! Aah!” and “Here comes a banger!” then you can have your own firework party – but cheaper!”
Kerfe Roig
“Of course I gravitated to the circular forms first. But I did a couple linear ones at the end, and embroidered the last one, which gave it a Miro feeling. I like his embrace of the accidental, although I think paint is a better and more environmentally friendly way to achieve this on paper than gunpowder. As to the explosion art… definitely not my thing. We are doing way too much of that all over the world as it is.“
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Graeme Daly
“I had a few ideas for this Kick-About, one being dropping ink into a glass basin using a pipette and photographing the results. However, going through a box of random odds and ends that has now become my Kick-About box, I found this cheap fibre-optic light that changes colour, bought for a project I still need to bash out. What you are looking at here is long exposure photography of the resulting lamp as I moved the lamp from left or right or ever so slightly let out a breathe to make the little lights dance around sporadically, or bending the lights and watch them spring back into shape as the long exposure captured and bled the lights into trails and scribbles. Because long exposure sings in the dark these were photographed in complete darkness. The dark versions of these are interesting in their own right, but I wanted to bring the lightness of Cai Guo-Qiang’s daytime plumes of colour back into the mix. In Photoshop I inverted each image to make the darkness of the image white, I then combined them together in various shapes and colours. A very fulfilling experiment this week!”
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Charly Skilling
“I have always had mixed feelings about fireworks. There is no doubt that many people love the colours, the sounds, the excitement, the very transience of fireworks, whilst many others abhor the inherent dangers and the incredible expense of producing large displays.
Looking at Cai Guo-Qiang’s work, I am struck by the attention to the tiniest detail, the planning and consideration of every aspect and possible outcome, the incredible amount of work and time and people and, yes, money that goes into procuring a one-off event that can neither be rehearsed nor amended once underway. What fascinates me is this contrast between the wild, explosive, unpredictable power of gunpowder, and the careful, detailed, meticulous channeling of that power to create these displays.
I have used two different techniques to explore these ideas. First a watercolour, on white paper, that required planning, care and some delicacy (for me, anyway!). Secondly, I spread shavings of oil pastels randomly across black paper, covered with another sheet of black, and then hammered my pastel sandwich like a maniac. A rolling pin followed the hammer, to help the spread of colours, and I then separated the two sheets. I shook off some of the excess debris, then a few strokes from a dry brush and a little blending with fingers and I was done. I was quite pleased with the results, and I would certainly recommend this technique for its therapeutic use in dealing with any tension or unexpressed anger issues! Enjoy!“
Phil Gomm
“From the sublime to the ridiculous… I have fond childhood memories of my grandfather putting on a ‘display’ of indoor fireworks in the front room of his house one evening – for some occasion or other I cannot recall. The fireworks were placed on an old baking tray and we watched as each small black pellet or mini-sparkler did its thing – a triumph of hope over experience, even then. In terms of cost and logistics, the huge aerial displays of Gau-Qiang beggar belief; I decided to organise my own pyrotechnic spectacle in an effort to aggrandise those same indoor fireworks that otherwise always disappointed me. Last seen visiting Blossfeldt’s Big Show, reluctant culture vultures Deidre and her husband, Derek are out and about once again, though I fear they may have been standing a little close to the action; Derek lost an eyebrow apparently and Deidre hasn’t heard the end of it…”
James Randall
“Cai Guo-Qiang’s work, while mind boggling and beautiful, seems to connote so much of what is not right with the world. But on a purely visual level I loved some of the pale explosions. Had me thinking fairly monochrome-whitish, which took me back to our recent vote on indigenous voice to parliament which of course was a shameful no. So I combined shame lettering and barbs and shapes and background texture experiments. I also went back and revised an earlier KA submission which I never felt happy with and as the new version evolved it felt appropriate here.“
Vanessa Clegg
“When I saw this weeks prompt it reminded me of the Indian festival of colour and all the pure pigments being thrown around… and then, because there’s a new ‘Vape’ shop in town (looks like a cross between an upmarket sweet shop and cocktail bar…clever marketing), I thought I’d look into the chemicals involved… and found that Diacetyl is yellow and propylene glycol creates artificial smoke… That led to fire, and then, looking out of the window, to cloud formations. Probably too many ideas for a simple drawing but fun nonetheless!”
And from one kind of dazzling aerial display to another altogether less bombastic example….
Red's Kingdom 
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