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1nimra — Requiem II
Published: 2008-10-02 12:27:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 30599; Favourites: 894; Downloads: 451
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Description
“Requiem II” pencil drawing 31” x 39”The struggle here was after I drew the smashed bulbs I liked it as it was, yet in my heart the drawing did not align with my concept. The drawing was not intended to be a “still life” but a symbolic representation of an altar piece and funeral lament. To have left it alone and just crop it wouldn’t have been enough in this particular drawing. I always set out with a goal in mind, this of course isn’t set in stone but I would have never been happy with this work if I didn’t push the envelope. Just the bulbs would have been interesting but safe, I needed to say more.
The bulbs have come to represent a spent life, they once held energy and gave us light to see by they now are swept aside and discarded like a little known ancestor. Three of course is a very strong number, representing the trinity, birth-life-death and the unity of mind-body-spirit. Not only are there three destroyed light bulbs but also in the alluded grave marker are three stone slabs. The decaying wood cross-member in its process of decomposition makes the horizontal member of a cruciform turning into an altar piece. The wire holding the wood in place unites the two images (bulbs and gravestone). Spatially my attempt is to make these objects much grander than three small bulbs and a stick but have them creating a wide landscape. These ideas don’t live within one work but are chapters in a concept that are continually being explored with in different guises.
Thanks for looking
/\\\
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Comments: 152
You're a very inspiring and amazing artist...when I look through your work, all I can do is stare in amazement and wonder how you can create so much texture and detail. I especially like this drawing. I don't think I would've ever thought of drawing broken lightbulbs 
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You truly are a god with a pencil in hand.
i find it interesting that (as i see it) the light bulbs seem to have caught you fancy; is it not interesting how some things can take us in and become applicable to everything...
just thankyou for your work
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It's an extremely beatiuful work! I have got no words!
But I'll be very grateful, when you say me, what technique do you use for drawing those bulbs?
And when you draw a portrait, do you use circulism for skin?
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I tend to draw in circles but I use linear marking as well, the bulbs are done in very light lines and then gone over in soft circles, I don’t use anything to blend it’s never appealed to me, t hanks for the good words
Armin
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Incredible work.
Yes, visually fantastic - the composition is absolutely wonderful.
But your concept does seep through the image - perhaps not as concrete as you describe, but the image definitely has a feeling of death about it, and implies deeper symbolic emotions and meaning.
thank you for explaining - with the explanation, I can look at the image again, and experience it in a different way.
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No without the description the viewer has a better chance at translating their own way yet I do want a certain tension to come across. When its hanging in a show the only hint is Requiem and that’s kind of the way I like it. Thanks you
Armin
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Your wonderful piece has been featured in my latest Journal right here : [link]
So congratz 
With all respects,
Sangiev
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This is a great piece, not only because you drew impeccably well, but because it offers an open highway of possibilies for the viewers to analize and interpret. Great job, you're a truly wonderful artist
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I see the stone and it makes me think of something constant, something solid that doesn't change, while the wood shows some age and looks as if it has been sitting there for a while. The broken bulbs are something that once gave light, or life, but now are useless. Now, I didn't know what a "requiem" was until just now, but doing a little research, basically from my understanding, it's a ritual for the dead. They pray for the salvation of the dead, and one of the key lines in the prayer is for God's eternal light to shine upon them. Now, going back to the drawing, it's sort of a paradox in that there is no more "light" (or life) because these bulbs have been shattered. We don't know what could have became of those bulbs, or as rcorbett explains, "We will never know what these bulbs could have given light to. We'll never what beauty could have come from out of the darkness." All we know is that time keeps moving, as, to me, that piece of wood hung on the stone illustrates. Hopefully this helps someone else interpret the piece in their own way. I don't really have a personal interpretation to this but it does have a lot of meaning to it.
I love your work Armin, you are one of my favorite artists, not just on the web. I hope to come to a point where I'm this good. Great work once again.
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Josh It’s this kind of interpretations that makes art magical, I thank you for sharing this because I drew it and you made it art!
Armin
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Amazing work! I was wondering. Do you have any textures in the paper you use? Everything looks so soft and I wonder if it's only because it's so large and we can't see the texture of the paper. Or if it's your excellent skills in blending.
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Thank you, there is slight texture in the board not as smooth as a hot press but fairly smooth. Its also not bright white like my others I the bulb series.
Armin
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Armin,
As with all of your work I'm in awe. I have to say that it's pieces like this that are my absolute favorites, this one in particular. This is a lot of personal meaning to me. Seeing this brings me back to a time when things were difficult for me. To me, the three broken bulbs doesn't represent a spent life but to me it represents a life that could have been. Perhaps the bulbs were new and have fallen, breaking. Now rendered useless. We will never know what these bulbs could have given light to. We'll never what beauty could have come from out of the darkness. The broken glass is reminding me of someone whom I lost many many years ago when she was only 16. Like these 3 bulbs, her life was shattered. Like not knowing what these bulbs could have given light to, I'll never know what my sister could have done with her life. To me Armin, your work needs no explanation. Your work speaks to me in a different way. All of your work has a special meaning to me and that's why I think you are an amazing artist - you draw subjects that have meaning. Your art has passion and fire. You draw with emotion and feeling. Your drawings come to life because you draw life into them so to speak.
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Ricky Thanks you so much, your words and translation means a lot!
Armin
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Very impressive /\\\, I'm especially impressed with the lettering on the bulbs.
I was just wondering if you use a lot of the harder pencils going as far down to 7H, 8H, 9H?
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I just use three grades 2B, B and 2H thanks!
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very very nice. i find a little hard to understand though this one.
wes
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Wes, It’s easy to understand a drawing of a skull with a snake coming out or a drawing of a wolf, or a drawing of Angelina Jolie or Johnny Depp is simple to grasp. This type of work is filled with personal and universal symbols; it takes much more work on the part of the viewer to decipher the image. The need to use your imagination, how you personally process symbols must be heightened, this is not casual pictures that lays out all the mysteries on a visual silver platter. I don’t like to explain these works other then when writing about them in a teaching forum, ideally the only hint is the title. Whatever the viewer sees is the truth at that time of viewing even if it means nothing to them that the momentary truth of the work.
/\\\
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Hi Armin --
Amazing technically, as per usual. But beyond that, the powerful symbolism pushes the meanings so far beyond the surface piece. It's easy to feel transported into someplace else ... not completely sure where ... but it's definitely a feeling of more omniscient knowing. Thanks once again for the piece and your incisive thought-provoking commentary.
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liked the concept behind this peice.
I sometimes haev a lot of ideas in mind and wish to put them on paper, but i usually like the drawing to speak for it self without the need for words, which make most of ideas vanish!!
Very well done as usual
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It’s a real struggle for me to “explain” the work; it should speak in its own right. I do this because it’s teaching forum. To take the personal translation away from the viewer goes against what these works are all about. It’s very important for me that the viewer create their own story behind the work, this is then what the work is about at that moment in time. If the viewer gets nothings out of it that’s fine, no connection is made. Symbolically these works should be mysterious, explaining my work takes that important step away.
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so you think it is ok if there no connection between the vewier and the peice you created?!
I thought the opposite. As I feel it is very important for me to translate what i wanted to convey and get connected to the veiwer. Otherwise, my piece will lose a lot of value!
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I’m not saying it’s a good thing but inevitable. Not everyone viewing my work or yours is going to have the same experiences in life, likes-dislikes, understanding of symbols or a shred of conceptual thinking to grasp an even marginal political-social- religious subjects. If I do a drawing about “German guilt’ what is some twelve-year old from Kansas going to get out of it? I think, I feel, I draw-if people get inspired, moved, angry, or it just sparks their imagination the work is a success, if some don’t that doesn’t mean it’s a failure but part of the process. My goal as an artist isn’t to have everyone love my work, it’s for everyone to at least give it a few seconds. I have been in exhibits where someone will not even look up at my work and dive right next to it to see a ceramic vessel. In with that kind of unawareness, in that case it has to be ok.
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If that's the case I do agree.
No everyone will be inspired by our work, but at least those who are interested and look at them should read what we meant..
Bless you
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The height of realism and depth of content make for a breathtaking piece. I just adore it!
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What a wonderful concept...followed by excellent execution. I love the symbolism, and the idea that this example is just one chapter.
The textures in this are so very well done. The strong value changes are great, but those fragile, subtle value changes are just breathtaking. Beautiful piece of work...again!
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it is really great, and as i watched, the first thing that ran through my mind was the site of a crucifix, the tombstone, and the log the human decadence.
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What a wonderful sequel. I could look on this for hours, all the lovely textures. You're amazing!
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You are brilliant, and your art is mind-blowingly amazing.
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beyond fantastic rendering and magnificent pairing of texture to give the piece a sense of dynamism, i love the symbolism. I think however, that, being completely anal, of course, that the strong verticals of the crevices between the slabs and of the wires exiting the picture plane, these verticals really drive the viewer out of the picture plane. Unless this is your intent, I would suggest darkening the uppermost border of the image, just enough to fence in the image, binging the viewer back to the stick, with the repetition of value. Just a suggestion; nice work!
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Good observation and nice solutions, for me though I don’t want to box it in on the vertical axis, but thank you for the suggestion and comment!
/\\\
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understandable; glad you appreciate the critique; i find helpful criticism to be very important; so many dArtists get by on weak compliments and never give any helpful feedback; take care
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I thought this was a photograph at first.
That is simply amazing!
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Technically, this is one of the most precise and beautiful pencil drawings I have ever seen. Nice work!
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