For several years, photographer Kevin Cooley worked with pyrotechnician Ken Miller on photo series on fire, explosions and clouds of smoke. The results were appealing, and in 2018 attracted a little too much attention: the US government heard about the cooperation and instigated an investigation into Miller’s activities – activities that had by then been extensively documented by Cooley. Eventually, the investigation led to a two-year prison sentence for Miller and the end of his career as ‘The Wizard of Awe’.
In the book entitled The Wizard of Awe, Cooley presents the original photo series that caused all the trouble, together with photographs he took of the farm in Minnesota where Ken Miller lived and worked. Interspersed through this are items of correspondence, through which the reader can trace the story of Miller’s career.
A range of different paper types supports the contents well and clearly communicates what we readers have in front of us. Thanks to its painstaking composition, what could have been just a really crazy or predominately poetic book, becomes an intriguing, personal story. The explosive cover draws us into the story: the blue linen cover on which an iconic, abstract explosion is represented in black screen printing and copper-coloured stamping foil, is truly breathtaking. All things considered, The Wizard of Awe is a consummate tribute to ‘The Wizard of Awe’.