{"id":13075,"date":"2025-07-18T13:18:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T11:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=13075"},"modified":"2025-07-18T13:18:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T11:18:56","slug":"victor-ryabinin-artist-grave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/victor-ryabinin-artist-grave\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Ryabinin, Artist \u2014 A Grave Decision"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

On the sixth anniversary of Victor Ryabinin’s Death<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

18 July 2025: Victor Ryabinin, Artist \u2014 A Grave Decision<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the sixth anniversary of our friend, K\u00f6nigsberg artist Victor Ryabinin\u2019s, death approached, the established etiquette of paying our respects to him at his graveside was brought into question by a discourse on the imperative or expectations of doing so. The postulation was challenged by another: that unconditionally consecrating the memory of the deceased is greater testimony to everlasting endearment than obedience to the yearly ritual of paying homage at the grave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looked at from the departed\u2019s point of view, having stepped out of mortal time to make room for eternity, like the fabled ten thousand men of the Grand Old Duke of York, who, when they were up, they were up, and when they were down, they were down, within the abyss of eternity, when we are there, we are there, and when we are not, we are here. Or are we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In mortal terms, but not in the dominion of the mortal deceased, a time<\/em> will come when everyone known to him personally \u2014 family, friends and work colleagues, indeed, in time<\/em>, his entire generation \u2014 will no longer be soil-side up, an incommoding inevitability which is almost certain to make visitations of any order difficult, with, perhaps, the exception of the supernatural kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never is this inability to reunite at the graveside more problematic than when you are in your own grave. And never is this fact driven more firmly home than when walking solitarily, consumed by quiet reflection, among the weathered and stooping tombstones within a typical English churchyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Samuel<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Gravestone<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

^^Grave of Samuel Treeby, Ringmore, who departed this life in 1828 …<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pull back the ivy and brush away the lichen and moss from the tombstone of your choice, and there you will find the names of those who lie beneath your feet. There is every possibility that they have been lying there for nigh on a hundred years or more, living their lives again and again, trapped inside the immutable time capsule that begins with birth and ends in death but which only culminates long enough to begin the process all over again.\u00a0 Not a single detail of their lives \u2014 our lives \u2014 is vulnerable to change, once the lid has been screwed down and the capsule sealed forever.\u00a0Even Britain\u2019s most fanatical revisionists, the history-rewriting BBC, who constantly lie to the young, are but fleetingly successful in their ideological ambition to reshape and corrupt the past. Their falsification of history may persist for a while, briefly, for a flirtatious interlude, but bound by the law of immutability, the past, when it does, as it will, eventually reasserts itself, all is reset as it should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last analysis, the already interred are safe, and we who are waiting to be interred, we are safe as well. Somewhere, out there, in our future, locked within our immutable time capsules, the dates and the details of our lives, literally written in stone, are irreversibly and unrevisably sacrosanct: date of birth, date of death and everything in between \u2014 nothing and no one can change that, not even those that hate you for living out your life without ever paying for a TV licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related content:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0425\u0443\u0434\u043e\u0436\u043d\u0438\u043a \u0412\u0438\u043a\u0442\u043e\u0440 \u0420\u044f\u0431\u0438\u043d\u0438\u043d \u041a\u0451\u043d\u0438\u0433\u0441\u0431\u0435\u0440\u0433 – Expat in Kaliningrad, Russia<\/a>
\u0414\u0443\u0445 \u041a\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0433\u0441\u0431\u0435\u0440\u0433\u0430 \u0412\u0438\u043a\u0442\u043e\u0440 \u0420\u044f\u0431\u0438\u043d\u0438\u043d – Expat in Kaliningrad, Russia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comparatively, the world has changed considerably in the six years that Victor Ryabinin moved decisively out of time. Coronavirus, the Ukraine conflict, the shift towards, or constant references to the shift towards, a New World Order (most of us are patiently waiting for a world order of any kind!), I wonder what Victor would have made of all this. I am sure the events of the past few years would have elicited a sketch or two in his daily journal or sent him reaching irresistibly for his easel and his paintbrush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All deaths are hard to accept, especially for those who are most affected by them, but the death of a creative person is perhaps among the hardest deaths to reconcile. The imponderable is forever present: what would they, the artist, have gone on to create had death not overtaken them? What gems of culture has the world been deprived of?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor Ryabinin, Artist \u2013 a Grave Decision<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The death of someone creative who was also a valuable lynchpin between the lives of numerous people from different backgrounds and walks of life, as Victor professionally and personally was, adds to this imponderability, since once the main link breaks, instantly or gradually, the remaining links are bound to suffer severance, resulting, either way, in the chain\u2019s disintegration. I wonder how many of Victor\u2019s relatives, his friends and art-world colleagues will honour him with their presence this year. Time is often praised, and so it should be, for being the healer it indubitably is, but people are apt to forget that the great healer is also a great invalidator and that with the more time that passes, the more forgetful we become and the easier it becomes to simply forget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where anniversaries are concerned, particularly those that relate to death, it is often the case that, willed or not, life gets in the way. \u2018Time waits for no man\u2019, making it rather sexist, and life, the bugger, it just goes on until, of course, it doesn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember watching a film in which somebody utters the common idiom to the main protagonist, whose fictional wife has recently died, [paraphrased] \u2018Life must go on,\u2019 to which the main protagonist replies, \u201cWell, I don\u2019t know about must<\/em> go on, but go on it certainly does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we will all agree that life does exactly that: it just goes on, with or without us. Its perpetual motion never ceases: the daily grind with its wearing demands, the past\u2019s emotional baggage bearing heavily down upon us, the cast-iron plans we make for a future we may not live to see, the years that blow away with yesterday\u2019s confetti, more deaths in one\u2019s personal circle and, with each successive page that lifts and flies from the calendar, even be they on angel\u2019s wings, the encroaching prospect of one\u2019s own demise getting ever closer and growing ever larger in one’s consciousness. Yes, I think we can safely say that life goes on alright, irrespective of who we are, what we are, who we weren\u2019t, and who we would have liked to have been and nevermore can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The death of a loved one may slow us down, but however hard it slams on the brakes, nothing stops life\u2019s carousel from turning. Life and the world are indifferent mechanisms: Around and around and around they go; why they do it, nobody knows. As one gets off, another gets on. The organ grinder keeps on grinding. Hark! He’s playing our tune. Hum along; it’s called \u2018Tricked by Nature\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Mr Wilcox who said to me, \u201cWe are fighting a war against human nature.\u201d He went and died in Spain, you know. He imparted these words of wisdom to me when I was at an impressionable age. His words made a lasting impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have often wondered since, as I wonder now, have most of us surrendered? Conscientious objectors to thought are everywhere, and if actions speak louder than words, think what they can do to logic. Losing is never impossible, but fighting on the losing side has its compensations: it relieves you of responsibility and releases you from a troubled conscience should you ever wake in the middle of parenthood with the words upon your lips, \u201cLord, what is it that I have done?!\u201d The Grand Old Duke of York had ten thousand men, none of whom, like you or me, ever escaped their destiny: when they were up, they were up, and when they were down, they were down. And we’ll all be that way some day and forever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so it is with our dear friend Victor: born 17 December 1946, died 18 July 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Victor
Victor Ryabinin in his art studio, February 2019<\/em>, displaying a work of art – a bottle of cognac<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I never made it to Victor\u2019s grave this year. Intention was vetoed by humdrumicity. In other words, life got in the way. I did raise a glass to his memory and to who he was and would always be, consoling myself with the thought that I was exactly where I had left myself in the summer of 2019. That\u2019s the other haunting thing that old graves have in common: the mourners never get to leave them, no matter how often they return or if they never return at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2018-2025 Mick Hart. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the sixth anniversary of Victor Ryabinin’s Death 18 July 2025: Victor Ryabinin, Artist \u2014 A Grave Decision As the sixth anniversary of our friend, K\u00f6nigsberg artist Victor Ryabinin\u2019s, death approached, the established etiquette of paying our respects to him at his graveside was brought into question by a discourse on the imperative or expectations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[2594,52,1299,283,2593,276],"class_list":["post-13075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-konigsberg","tag-6th-anniversary-victor-ryabinins-death","tag-konigsberg","tag-victor-ryabinin","tag-victor-ryabinin-art-studio","tag-victor-ryabinin-artist","tag-victor-ryabinin-artist-historian"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/viktor-with-coniac-OK-min.jpg?fit=720%2C960&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4203,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/victor-ryabinin-at-one-with-konigsberg\/","url_meta":{"origin":13075,"position":0},"title":"Victor Ryabinin at one with K\u00f6nigsberg","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"18 \u0438\u044e\u043b\u044f, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Ryabinin, artist, K\u00f6nigsberg17 December 1946 ~ 18 July 2019 Victor Ryabinin, a word with him after his death:Thoughts on the second anniversary of Victor's deathIt is two years now, by our understanding of time, since Victor stepped out of time, but hardly a day goes by when we do\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "K\u00d6NIGSBERG"","block_context":{"text":"K\u00d6NIGSBERG","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/konigsberg\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Why Victor Ryabinin will never leave K\u00f6nigsberg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Surreal-face-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Surreal-face-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Surreal-face-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Surreal-face-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2752,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/a-book-about-victor-ryabinin\/","url_meta":{"origin":13075,"position":1},"title":"A book about Victor Ryabinin","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"17 \u0434\u0435\u043a\u0430\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"On the 75th anniversary of Victor Ryabinin's birth Published: 17 December 2020 ~ A book about Victor Ryabinin To coincide with what would have been Victor Ryabinin\u2019s 75th birthday, a book has been published which celebrates and commemorates his life and work. 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'Whenever sad, draw a flower', Victor Ryabinin wrote. If only he was here to show us how\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "K\u00d6NIGSBERG"","block_context":{"text":"K\u00d6NIGSBERG","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/konigsberg\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Whenever sad, draw a flower Victor Ryabinin","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Victor-Draw-a-Flower-2.jpg?fit=640%2C945&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Victor-Draw-a-Flower-2.jpg?fit=640%2C945&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Victor-Draw-a-Flower-2.jpg?fit=640%2C945&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5262,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/victor-ryabinin-art-exhibition-kaliningrad-opens-december-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":13075,"position":5},"title":"Victor Ryabinin Art Exhibition Kaliningrad opens December 2021","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"21 \u0434\u0435\u043a\u0430\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"An Artist who Can Hear Angels Speak Published: 21 December 2021 ~ Victor Ryabinin Art Exhibition Kaliningrad opens December 2021 An art exhibition devoted to the works of our late friend Victor Ryabinin opens at The Kaliningrad Regional Museum of History and Arts on 23 December 2021. 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