Look through the eyes of Beksiński

LOOK THROUGH BEKSIŃSKI'S EYES

My first close encounter with the enormity of Zdzisław Beksiński's work was at the Historical Museum in Sanok. Completely unexpectedly, because I did not plan to visit this city. However, I had the opportunity to see over 600 works of this artist, hated by some, and loved by others, for which I am very grateful to my three wonderful colleagues who took me there.

I will admit right away that my attitude towards his work was ambivalent, perhaps due to the lack of sufficient knowledge about the enormity of his works, perhaps from classifying him to this sphere of creativity, which is not of my interest. Or maybe neither one nor the other, only because of the lack of possibility to experience his works live.

I do not need to explain here how little the reproduction found on the Internet, of dubious quality, and only a shadow of the works of a given artist, does not show. A modified color that is completely different from the original changes the character of the work. It no longer has any connection with its prototype. Separated from its source, it becomes a poor shadow.

I was inspired by this phenomenon, duplication of an image on the web, loss of its value, spreading, modification, bad framing, which is reproduced endlessly, losing its quality. Meanwhile, the original, safely locked in the gallery space, awaits a meeting with the absent recipient. Because who has the opportunity to get to Sanok? A place so far away on the map that you can experience the adventure with Beksiński's original works.

Virtuality begins to dominate more and more in the space of discourse about contemporary image. An interesting element of the exhibition were the artist's paintings brought to life using the VR (Virtual Reality) technique, which gained even greater meaning. Finding oneself in the space of their performance, despite still poor technology, evoked something in the form of horror and fascination at the same time. It was even difficult to define this moment when two extreme emotions meet. The possibility of looking around, getting closer to the scary characters, entering underground corridors, left a feeling of strange anxiety and a lot of questions. Where does this artist's vivid imagination come from? Or maybe the connection with other universes allowed him to look at those representations? Some images look like portals, gates of passage to other dimensions. And the creatures in his paintings exceed the limits of human imagination. This creativity cannot be confined within any framework. And an attempt to classify it as a fantasy movement still seems to be too weak an argument.

To my surprise, this work, which irritated me, disgusted me at times, or evoked disgust, turned out to be hypnotizing, not only because of the motives, but above all because of the depth of the painting, the technique of execution and the amazing saturation of colors. The richness of the painting matter, the specificity of applying paint to the flat surface of the board, the net of thin lines, which is a cacophony of colors up close, merging into three-dimensional shapes from a distance, was astonishing. And admiration for the artist's manual abilities and over the developed painting methods.

I am not tempted to analyze his work in depth, because I am not a specialist in this field. Rather, I want to express my subjective feelings. Your admiration for some compositions, motifs, ideas, color combinations. I do not know which painting evoked the greatest emotions and which one touched the depths of my humanity, but undoubtedly the last painting, completed on the day of his death, with a motive different from the rest, kept me for longer ... Knowing how the painting was lost, it seemed to me even more dark .

There is only one conclusion: pictures are meant to be associated with them, not to reproduce them. Even if you have to cross half of Poland, the experience of being in the space of Beksiński's paintings is worth the effort.

Dr. Natalia Romaniuk