Ancestor

Ancestor. We're on the 5th floor, in the tower, the old ED11A drawing class studio. The year is 2008. I'm not sure quite why it's so empty, although I can tell by the white screens set up on the various desks that it's just at the end of the chiaroscuro work (getting all the values in light and dark from a closely observed set of still-life forms--with a soft 6B pencil on large sheets of paper). And I can see a remnant geometric solid there on the desk top to the left--a perfect cone, made from heavy bristol, no doubt, which catches the light from the windows to the south. The ceiling, the duct-work, the windows to the other side--the reflected light on the brown linoleum floor, blurred at the edges--it's all been that way forever. Wurster...

I don't know the name of the young man here, although I know he must be in the class--for he's holding up a photo of someone he's chosen for ancestor project. Ancestral Realm--where each of the students explores a figure like this, someone they value from the family past. There's an acknowledgement of this in both their poses, actually--a certain calm resoluteness. As if each might know where the other one is, right at this moment, and perhaps why. Even with the decades in between. Even with their different worlds. Looking forward, looking back. The standing man works for a living, maybe it's his day off--the touch of formality, the casual stance--as if he's earned it. And still a bachelor?  ¿Un soltero? Good looking, but not entirely sure of himself in front of the camera. With the younger man, you get a sense that he's no doubt worked equally hard to get to where he's sitting, if in a different way--although he may take it a touch for granted now--and there's an element of satisfaction. But the younger man has also gained in gravitas by holding up the photo. More than just pride, it's actually a sense of bearing. He's aware of their relationship--proud, too--either about the standing man himself, or maybe just proud of the fact the fact that they're related--that he comes from people--from gente--and that he feels a part of this handing down...

The standing man give has made the younger man stronger, just by his existence.

Am I inventing all this? Is it my own idealizing? Somehow I don't think so. They lean slightly away from each other (something I probably noticed in taking the picture) but in fact their heads are tilted in unison, at precisely the same angle. In concord.

You hear all of this when someone says, "Mi abuelo..." And now the challenge will be to convey it in a drawing!


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