Philipp Hölke

Art

Your Own Flame

A matchbox centred on black, over a field of red and yellow, with Nietzsche's instruction lettered underneath — burn first, then rise.

A canvas of scraped red, yellow and black with a centred black square holding a real matchbox — white matches, a printed X on the sleeve — and large black hand-lettered capitals below reading YOU MUST BE READY TO BURN IN YOUR OWN FLAME, then a smaller line, how else could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes.

A matchbox sits in a black square at the centre of a scraped field — red above, yellow below, the colours of a flame that has not been struck yet. The box is real, matches still in it, an X on the sleeve. The lettering underneath is the instruction the object is waiting for.

You must be ready to burn in your own flame. How else could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?

Nietzsche again, written as a demand rather than a consolation. The matches are unlit. The painting has already done the burning around them.