artist statement
The spectacle of an explosion deserves the context of its residue. Fireworks are designed to be consumed in an instant. I reframe them, archiving what remains after the moment of ignition as subject for sustained investigation. Here, spectacle and residue collapse into one.
I use small ground fireworks and other combustible materials and work with what’s left—smoke transfer, burn marks, char patterns, cloudy washes of color inscribed through flame. I archive moments of ignition through tangible residue, the work’s primary content. I view this material as a collaborative partner; it moves on its own terms, and I respond. The practice spans drawing, installation, videography, and performance.
Residue has an aroma—sulfur and char hang in the air. On birch panels, a dense tactile buildup sits within atmospheric fields of lavender, indigo, burnt sienna, and sulfur yellow. Colors arriving through combustion chemistry. Diffuse traces of smoke contrast with sharp arcing burn patterns inscribed by spinning fireworks, marks carrying kinetic memory. On black paper, residue appears as light against void, and fireworks burn holes into scorched substrate. When lit, these irregular holes project a clean star pattern. In my work, destruction is the mechanism of creation.
Scale runs through the work. Combustion residue naturally resembles cosmic phenomena because small explosions and supernovae follow the same principles of physics. Celestial landscapes, produced by the same forces they depict. The immense becomes intimate as the viewer stands inches from what resembles light-years, and residue reveals what spectacle alone cannot.
Biography
Kyle Selley (b. 1992, Kansas City, Missouri) is an artist working across drawing, installation, performance, and video. His practice centers on residue, specifically what fireworks and combustible materials leave behind, framing the explosive event through its aftermath. His work explores topics surrounding the contemporary sublime, the archive, chance, and spectacle.
Selley has maintained a relationship with fireworks since childhood, long before incorporating them into a fine art practice. Over a decade of controlled ignitions, observation, interdisciplinary study, and formal refinement ground a body of work that expands across disciplines.
He holds a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute, studied sculpture and ceramics at the University of Tasmania, and received his MFA from the University of Florida, where he served as Instructor of Record in sculpture. His teaching integrates fabrication, material experimentation, chance, and conceptual development within contemporary art discourse. He founded In-Haus Habitat, an artist-run project space in Gainesville.
Selley has presented over ten solo exhibitions across the Midwest and Southeast, with recent presentations at Foundry Art Centre in St. Louis and 4Most Gallery in Gainesville. Recent juried exhibitions include the University of Montana, the University of North Alabama, and the Martin Arts Center. His work has been featured in more than ten publications. Selley has sat on panels and performed with arts collectives at the Harn Museum of Art and Santa Fe College. His short films have received awards at Chroma Art Film Festival in Miami and Avalonia Festival of Short Films in Atlantic Beach.
