What I like about charcoal as a medium for art is that it is at once so distinct and yet so disintegrative. One gets the feeling that the mere act of looking at it would make it fade. In the last couple of days I have produced so 15 charcoal drawings which I find very hard to store. Stacking them up runs the risk of smudging beyond recognition. Perhaps the best option is to print their copies on some archival paper.
This morning I picked up a broken charcoal stick and drew this minimalist scene. For now it is my favorite because it engenders a feeling of serene solitude in me coupled with the portentous sense that I might disintegrate any moment.
Immediately after this four strokes piece, I wrote the following:
लगता है बिखर जाऊंगा किसी भी पल
खंड खंड कणों में
फिर कभी न जुड़ पाउँगा
उस रूप में
जो मैं कभी था
--मयंक छाया
I feel as if I will disintegrate any moment
Into broken specks
Never to reassemble
In the form
That I once was
--MC