Summer smoke
Phillip VanPhillip Van uses photography to hold the fleeting, hazy atmosphere of a season in suspension. This portrait-oriented piece captures the soft, drifting quality of summer smoke as it blurs the boundaries between light and air.
Summer smoke
Phillip Van uses photography to hold the fleeting, hazy atmosphere of a season in suspension. This portrait-oriented piece captures the soft, drifting quality of summer smoke as it blurs the boundaries between light and air.
28 × 35 cm · about ⅙ the width of a 3-seat sofa
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Summer smoke
Phillip Van
Art Analysis
The weightless drift of a hazy afternoon
In this work, Phillip Van explores the textural quality of heat and haze. The composition relies on the ephemeral nature of smoke, using its shifting forms to create a sense of depth and movement within a static frame. The vertical orientation emphasizes the upward drift of the vapor, inviting the eye to follow its dissipation into the surrounding space.
The piece functions as a sensory study, grounding the viewer in the specific, heavy stillness of a warm afternoon. By focusing on the interplay of light through a translucent medium, Van captures a quiet, atmospheric moment that feels both grounded in reality and delicately abstract.
Fennell utilizes the camera to capture the hazy, ethereal quality of light as it interacts with the forest floor.
The portrait orientation focuses the viewer's attention on the upward movement of the trunk and the floating bubbles.
The work centers on a transient subject that exists only for a few seconds, freezing a temporary state of being into a permanent image.
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