These images are by the artist Herbert Pfostl, who has long been a favourite of mine. He has just announced that he is selling some of his artwork, so if you are interested in having one of these beauties (and many others) on your wall, then please contact him via his blog: Herbert Pfostl's Paper Graveyard.
'The sky still farther away'
The themes are generally about death and loss, but there is such heartbreaking beauty in the subtle, smoky charcoal colouring and they are quiet pictures. That's not strictly true; often they wail with grief, but it seems to me, a silent wail. I'm not sure how else to describe them, so I won't: Herbert does it infinitely better. This description is taken from his other blog, Blind Pony Books..................
An idea of books from a yearning
to counter the all-polluting imagery-machines
with parables of plants and animals
and old stories
of black robbers and white stags.
Fragments on death like mirrors
from a black sleep
in the forests of fairy tales.
All stories from the dust of the dead
in fragments and footnotes
like melodies of heartbreak
and north and night and exploration–breakdowns.
About saints with no promise of heaven
and lost sailors forgotten
and the terribly lonely bears.
The unknown, the ugly – and the odd.
Collected grand mistakes,
noble errors from many sources.
Sinking signals - conscious or not – sonatas and last letters
and great insults.
The impossible tears in landscapes
of ocean or stranded whales.
A going far back to coals
and cruelties and sobbing
like songs in whiskey and blood.
Of soldiers’ last letters and all seven seas.
With pirates and wars and prayers
in holes in the ground.
Of fallen women and orphaned children
and drowned slaves and burned saints.
To make songs from doubt
and books to live by.
to counter the all-polluting imagery-machines
with parables of plants and animals
and old stories
of black robbers and white stags.
Fragments on death like mirrors
from a black sleep
in the forests of fairy tales.
All stories from the dust of the dead
in fragments and footnotes
like melodies of heartbreak
and north and night and exploration–breakdowns.
About saints with no promise of heaven
and lost sailors forgotten
and the terribly lonely bears.
The unknown, the ugly – and the odd.
Collected grand mistakes,
noble errors from many sources.
Sinking signals - conscious or not – sonatas and last letters
and great insults.
The impossible tears in landscapes
of ocean or stranded whales.
A going far back to coals
and cruelties and sobbing
like songs in whiskey and blood.
Of soldiers’ last letters and all seven seas.
With pirates and wars and prayers
in holes in the ground.
Of fallen women and orphaned children
and drowned slaves and burned saints.
To make songs from doubt
and books to live by.
Who could not fall in love with robber barons and the terribly lonely bears?
'Little care I take'
Die Nebensonnen
'Better farther on'
'The things of this world'
He has also published a book with his friend, Kristofer Minta, which I have and love. It can be bought here at Blind Pony Books and is called, 'To Die No More'.
Dedicated to the deeply dead and the truly living.
Herbert's New York studio is also a visual feast; I could spend a happy few hours/days in here.
Other links:
Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/hpfostl/
All images courtesy of Herbert Pfostl.
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