Usually, the fire we see is controlled by us - humans. We give it a purpose, and once its role is accomplished, we extinguish it.

We, humans, focused our energies on developing methods to keep fire under our control. And ultimately, our way of life stands upon the foundations built from such development in our history.

The fire I use for my artworks is no exception. The flame that floats upward, or the one that burns downward, disappears eventually, leaving smoke and ash as the only evidence of its existence. The sight of this fleeting existence arouses in us calm rather than excitement, still silence rather than exhilaration.

Fire somehow is intellectual and frail at the same time.

I constantly seek for form within the ephemeral fire.
- Shingo Tanaka