It was never his intention for the artwork to go up in flames. But when the collector who bought Kinskihead in 1982 accidentally set it on fire whilst cleaning it, they agreed the ‘match-heads’ should be viewed as performance pieces and David began setting fire to his match-head work more often. They included the burning of the devil’s match-head to mark the start of the Edinburgh Art Festival in 2011 and the burning of Jesus Christ’s match-head as the “final creative act” of his award-winning Precious Light exhibition, coinciding with the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible that same year.