Pantheon ~ charcoal on paper ~ 25"x45"

"Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep."

I was struck in Rome especially by the sheer magnitude and beauty of art that religion has inspired and funded. If religion is a human need then so is art. Le Corbusier's quote above reflects that as well.

In this drawing I wanted to capture how the light strikes the interior of the Pantheon. It started off very painstakingly, and then stayed on the wall, incomplete, for several days. Yesterday I just played some loud music and worked on it with a lot of post-sehri and post-iftar energy to finish is ASAP, so I could move ahead.

When I was done my hands and feet, and the entire white-tiled floor, were covered in black charcoal.

Detail shots

8.5"x11" ~ pencil on paper

There are certain monuments that are overwhelmingly awe-inspiring because they are not only formally beautiful in the semi-ruined state in which they exist but also embody a strong sense of symbolic and historic meaning. The Colosseum is one of them.

And then I took the Eurostar to Rome, a city founded by Romulus and Remus in 753 BC, territory of rulers such as Julius Caesar and Mussolini and Gods such as Bacchus and Jesus Christ, the setting for epic drama of love and betrayal, a founding city of the Western civilization and a Mecca of modern-day Christianity.

“‘I don’t know whether I shall write. It sometimes seems to me that writing prevents one from living, and that one can express oneself better by acts than words.’

“‘Works of art are acts that endure,’ ventured Olivier timidly; but Bernard was not listening.

“‘That’s what I admire most of all in Rimbaud—to have preferred life.’”

Days have flown by in a flash. I would have liked to write about Nice and the bonding experience that it was for us kilo interns, of my attempt to get into the Paris catacombs, of the tragedy of leaving Paris and kilo, of Florence, where I saw some of the best sculpture and had some of most incredible pasta, of Tivoli and the dazzling Hadrian’s villa, and of Rome, where I am right now, and to which no quick words will do justice.

It is for this reason that I quote lines from André Gide’s novel Les Faux-Monnayeurs (English title: The Counterfeiters) to find an excuse for not writing. My sketchbooks are filling up faster now that I don’t work 9-7, and though Andy’s camera which I have been using so far refuses to function anymore, I will use the one Angela gave me to photograph some pages really soon.

More images from Nice here. Tomorrow I head to Athens.