Artist Filemon Trevino, 38, poses with his 411-meter-long (1,350-foot) drawing called "Electrocardiograma Artistico 411" at the Regiomontana University in Monterrey, Mexico,Friday, March 14, 2008. Trevino accomplished his lifelong dream of entering the Guinness Book of World Records Wednesday, when he was presented a Guinness certificate declaring his drawing as the world's largest.
He forgot to eat, sleep or even drink water. But Mexican artist Filemon Trevino accomplished his lifelong dream of entering the Guinness Book of World Records.
In a news conference Wednesday, Trevino presented a Guinness
certificate declaring his quarter-mile-long pencil drawing as the world's largest.The Monterrey artist said he spent 6,000 hours and used 800 pencils to complete his representation of the heart and circulatory system, with symbols including doves, geometric shapes and hundreds of yards of intertwined tubes.
He says breaking the record became an obsession that led him to neglect his health.
He was hospitalized seven times for dehydration, heart and kidney problems and fainting spells, all attributed to long hours spent drawing in a hot, stuffy room.
“I forgot to drink water,” he said. “I didn't know anything about friends, my family or anything else in the world. I started to grow a beard and lost (35 pounds) 16 kilograms.”
Trevino started the drawing in July 2004 and completed it in August 2005. But he could not apply for the world record until he found someone willing to display the work and sponsor Guinness' $600 entry fee.
The work was unveiled in March at the Regiomontana University.
