Free Republic

Czech artist Ladislav Vlna has swapped his brush for a blowtorch as he ‘paints’ with fire to create artworks that change according to lighting. Vlna’s self-titled metallurgic painting technique results in surprisingly delicate and detailed pieces, mostly portraits or figures, with oxyacetylene torches. The 40-year-old artist begins by painting a draft upon a steel surface and then carves, sharpens and polishes the basic image into it before putting a flame to the engraving which alters its color, depending on the temperature. This process gives the piece its unique appearance.

A man killed himself at Burning Man-style arts festival by leaping into a towering burning art structure in front of hundreds of horrified onlookers, authorities and witnesses said. On Monday, scores of "burners" - who commune in the Nevada desert every August for Burning Man -were mourning the doomed festivalgoer after he dove into the flames during a moonlit bonfire ritual at the Element 11 fest near Salt Lake City late Saturday.

They wear black. They're illuminated by city street lights. Their pupils shrink, focused on the mesmerizing flame at their fingertips. They do not speak, but suddenly crack fuel-covered burning whips, swing blazing canes and fire balls on chains. Tracers of firelight linger in the smoky air. Sparks fly and bounce on the asphalt. Orange-blue stripes of ignited fuel on the ground stroke their dancing feet. Among the battery of fuel cans, extinguishers and heat a member of the clan stands intensely watching and holding an outstretched blanket like an unmanned cape, ready to smother any flame that might catch hold....