In the Explosion – Ignite

Hi, this is Tonia Bonnell, and my piece in Art of the State 2025 is titled "In the Explosion: Ignite."

My work is built up with the repetition of short, individual, hand-drawn lines, created with pencil and colored pencil on frosted Mylar.

These marks are simple yet gain mood, movement and complexity when they accumulate in a composition. The overall result is greater than the sum of the parts, and the work is intended to be viewed both up close and from a distance.

This piece is from a series that was inspired by words such as "fracture," "explode" and "shatter." In this drawing, the sharp edges of the forms and the vibrant orange glowing next to the green give the image dynamic intensity. The individual marks, however, create a steady, deliberate, meditative rhythm within the explosion of energy, a sort of oasis within the chaos.