“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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