Adam Landis - Weekly Artist Post, Zdzislaw Beksinski

Zdzislaw Beksinski is an amazing painter, very active from the 1960's to the 1980's. His work largely consisted of oil painting of dystopian apocalyptic surrealism, most quite grim. Despite his work being so complex he's been quoted with saying that he did not know the meanings of his works nor was he interested in possible interpretations, and consequently he titled none of his work. Unfortunately, the man died in 2005, he was murdered by a Warsaw youth to whom Beksinski had refused to give a loan. His gallery two works are some of his most fantastic, several being created during his most active period, the early 80's. His composition, treatment of texture and form are inspiring, which is the main reason I think everyone should know about him. Personally, I can just stare at his work for quite a while, simply admiring it. There's something captivating about the grim and the disturbing, something that I'm currently exploring in my own art, which could be another reason I find his work so inspiring. His use of mostly monochrome compositions give the work a dreamy air, or more accurately one could say that its nightmarish. The artist himself found his own work to be often misunderstood, as he saw it to be mostly humorous and optimistic.