FX exothermic

In FX Exothermic, Tony Oursler has created the illusion of burning fire. The abbreviation FX stands for ‘special effects’, those visual tricks used in film and television that stimulate imagined events. Oursler’s ongoing interest in deconstructing Hollywood tropes takes the blockbuster as a point of departure. Look closely and you can also see the stylised and vaguely recognisable features of a human face – he has created a vision of this grotesque face lost in a blaze of flames. Oursler’s art often aims directly at exploring the relationship between the viewer and the artwork, and, as in this work, regularly uses new technologies that allow for the imitation of human and emotional features, thus creating a work that can easily engage us.