Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Zdzisław Beksiński
Zdzisław Beksiński (1929 -2005) was a Polish painter who was renowned for his surreal works (”surreal” in a non-pretentious sense, unlike the flamboyant attention-whore, Dali). He created vast, dark landscapes, odd creatures, and juxtaposed organic textures onto different objects. In fact, among the most striking features of his paintings are the beautiful and meticulously-detailed textures he created.
Click to expand.
(These are too huge to display)
Untitled - 1976
Untitled - 1980
Untitled
Usually, the paintings come off to most as dark, gloomy or frightening. Some of them are violent or “gory,” though the red, root-like stringy textures wouldn’t admit that. A few of them are explicitly sexual as well.
Absolutely nothing was psychologically wrong with Beksiński, he was a kind, albeit quiet person, and possibly a very deep, introspective thinker. He was humble about his work, thinking of them as no more than a personal journal of some sort, where he spilled out all of his deepest thoughts onto the canvas. The works show the “heavier” side of reality and latches onto the imagination that many people will deny or attempt to ignore.
Despite any vehement negativity the paintings seem to emit, Beksiński himself remarked that, at least from his perspective, the paintings were positive, life-affirming, and at times, even humorous. Not that any of what he said is intended to be ironic or LOLworthy, because his paintings really do imply positivity. He is among the few artists whose works are definitely not devoid of any meaning.
(for you assholes searching without alternate characters: Zdzislaw Beksinski )
(Also, for the curious - “Zdzislaw” is pronounced “szhee-slav”.)
