Zdzislaw Beksinski Deaded By Murder

[Frinky]

...which is a bit shitty. My favourite living artist is no longer living.

Yahoo Clicky, you stupid

WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish contemporary artist Zdzislaw Beksinski, famed for his haunting fantasy paintings, has been found murdered at his home, police said Tuesday.

Police said they found multiple wounds on Beksinski's body, discovered at his flat in a prestigious Warsaw neighborhood.

"His body was found late last night by his family. He had several wounds, some on his chest, which could have been caused by for example a dagger," police spokeswoman Zuzanna Talar said.

The 75-year-old artist became famous around Europe and Japan in the 1970s and 80s for his paintings that depicted disfigured objects or people against a background of hazy romantic light.

"He was one of the best known artists of Poland. He created a language, a climate of horror and secrecy in his paintings. He engaged people's imagination and it was very convincing," said Katarzyna Nowakowska-Sito, curator of modern art at Warsaw's National Museum.

Beksinski, born in the south-east town of Sanok in 1929, was also a photographer and sculptor, and drew pictures often compared to the work of Austrian Ernst Fuchs, founder of a fantastic-realism school.

Maybe whoever murdered him was driven insane by his spooky art, man.

Me, I love his work. This quote in particular;

He engaged people's imagination and it was very convincing

...is exactly right. I'll use art-simpleton terms, becuase that's all I'm qualilfied to use, but he mastered the texture and density needed to give his paintings a very tangible atmosphere. Dry, dusty, sometimes cold, sometimes hot, but always very empty and solitary. He's often confused with an artist who claims, whilst in a coma, he had visions of hell, which he then painted. Beksinski makes no claims like these, these are simply paintings from his imagination.



Whilst I suppose they could be construed as "hellish" images, that's not really the intent. The majority of his work, if unsettling, is still somewhat serene, and quite calm. Most people who view it say it engages them in such a way it conjures a dream-like feeling, and that it has a certain, intangible, familiarity.

Given the traditional view of hell is fire, brimstone, and eternal pain in the arse, his work is actually somewhat at odds with this. I have a big ole ZIP of about 40 images in high res, which I'll try to upload for those who want it.



Edit, perhaps a few words from Zdzislaw himself (before he died)?

"I have my own world, which if I paint it, can be a nightmare in your eyes. Similarly some consider discoteques a hell, others, the gates of heaven. What I paint is, above all else, a spiritual self portrait of me."

"I should like my paintings and drawings to 'survive'. Certainly this is an absurd wish. No one can see better than I do that no survival is possible. However, at one of the earlier periods in my life, moved by the strength of my own naivete, I did not yet realize to what extent I do now the determinism of transitoriness; I made up my mind to paint, draw, scuplt, in order to 'survive' in my works."

"I consider creation as the only availalbe way of fighting off the inevitability of passing away, I paint to leave something permanent after my death. Of course, everything is doomed to disappear with time, even concrete fortifications. Having my own paintings around me helps to preserve the illusion of having created really permanent things."

"I quite simply have been trying from the very beginning to paint beautiful paintings. Beautiful. Of course you may take that for coquetry, and yet, it is the essential thing, the only thing that counts."

[Des Nilsen]

That's quite horrific and bizarre. Sad to hear he died so violently. :(

I'm only halfway familiar with his work. One of a whole bunch of painters I still haven't gotten to know the work of that well.

-

[yak]

Given the traditional view of hell is fire, brimstone, and eternal pain in the arse, his work is actually somewhat at odds with this. I have a big ole ZIP of about 40 images in high res, which I'll try to upload for those who want it.

do please, those few that you've shown look really stunning.

[Frinky]

'ang about a bit, then.

[yak]

tum te tum...

[Frinky]

Here you go then. One set of hi-res, a mixture of other work, and some sketches. If you like/dislike the work, then I'd love for a discussion to 'appen here.

35mb, don't download it if you don't want it that much.

[yak]

thank you muchly

[loo]

Sheesh, that's insane!  I had found out about his work over a year ago from a webpage and saved a lot of it on disk, but I lost the link and I couldn't for the life of me remember his name; now I see why.  Terrible shame, what a great talent.

[slim]

I really like the first one Frinky (not that you did it, you talentless hack). I'm leeching the zip file, so I'll tell you what I think of the rest later. Are there more like the first one? That one grabs me much more than the latter two.

At least now he'll be able to be recognised as a great artist; they all have to wait until they're gone first, don't they?

[terminallyrelaxed]

You're a bit of dude sometimes are'nt you Frinks? Thanks for the zip file...

[butnut]

I ashamed to say I'd never even heard of Beksinski before this thread appeared - so thanks Frinky, because I really like some of those pictures. As anyone who's seen my doodles will tell you, I'm not much of a 'visual' person, and I'm really bad at following anything to do with that side of the art world. So it's a real treat for me to find something that I quite like.

It's a shame that he had to be killed for me to find out about him though.

[terminallyrelaxed]

Erm, is it ok to have reservations?

[Frinky]

Erm, is it ok to have reservations?

Of course. Do explain in detail, mind. :)

over a year ago from a webpage

Yeah, that's where I found out about him, On The Internet. He has a huge following on the internet, mostly by people who have no idea about him (thinking he was the coma guy). He gets a lot of comparisons to H R Gieger, which is unfair, really, becuase the majority of Beksinski's work isn't as desperatly sexual or eager to shock.

At least now he'll be able to be recognised as a great artist; they all have to wait until they're gone first, don't they?

Well, I'm sure now he'll get his wish. He just need to get stabbed in the head a lot. If you like the scale and structure of the first shot, you'll find a few more in there that you'll like.

[Frinky]

Also;

http://www.beksinski.pl/

[Regular John]

He was an amazing artist, Frinky you got it spot on with the comments about his environments. Every picture of his offers interpretations that vary wildly.

My personal favourite is this image of a... something... playing a horn. I shudder to imagine the tune it was playing was in Beksinski's mind.

[yak]

just been through the collection, there are some stunning pieces in there. My favorite has to be the one of the parent figure caring over the child in the cradle (at least thats what it looks like from here), the way the material is draped and bunched over the parent is amazing, I had no idea people could paint like this.

[slim]

Holy crap! I've dreamed about this one:



or something very, very similar, but have never seen it before. That gave me the the willies.

Some of them are fantastic. A few have figures that remind me of the creatures in HL2, or how you'd imagine them to be in HL4 at least.

He seemed to have quite a troubled mind, didn't he? I wonder where the seemingly common theme of extra bones/limbs comes from.

[Brinx]

Thanky muchly for putting the zip up.

[SurferGhost]

Ta muchly for these Frinks, I could never remember this bloke's name (or how to spell it). I was introduced to his work by one of them weird women I've been out with, "Oh, you like Max Ernst and that Giger bloke don't you, try these...".

He gets a lot of comparisons to H R Gieger, which is unfair, really, becuase the majority of Beksinski's work isn't as desperatly sexual or eager to shock.

I was going to say, a restrained (and much more disturbing for it) version of Giger. Or rather, Giger's a less restrained version of him. Better use of colour too, although Giger's greens are nice when he can be mithered. I wonder how "aware of" each other they are/were.

[Frinky]

I shudder to imagine the tune it was playing was in Beksinski's mind.

Rrrrrr-eerrrr-eeeee-wwwwoooooo-leeeeeeeeeee, probably.

Holy crap! I've dreamed about this one:

or something very, very similar, but have never seen it before. That gave me the the willies.

This is exactly why his work appeals - we've all dreamed something similar, or it connects with most people in a way that triggers memories of the kind of feelings associated with those dreams. A lot of his work is just unsettling, nothing more, and gives me perhaps the need to look over my shoulder. But always in my head I've got a more in-depth image or understanding of what I've seen, relating to maybe memories or dreams or the imagination. I know that all sounds really wanky, but it's a unique effect it has on me. And his strike rate with people I put the work too seems to be higher than it is with other artists.

Thats one of my wallpapers, as it goes.

I was going to say, a restrained (and much more disturbing for it) version of Giger. Or rather, Giger's a less restrained version of him. Better use of colour too, although Giger's greens are nice when he can be mithered. I wonder how "aware of" each other they are/were.

There's that well known anecdote that Gieger offered someone on the set of Alien opium. He said he took it becuase, in his words, "I am afraid of my visions," to which the crew member replied, "but surely you know they're all in your head?" Gieger's reply was "Yes, but that's what terrifies me" or somesuch.

Yeah, fuck off, you ponce.

My favorite has to be the one of the parent figure caring over the child in the cradle (at least thats what it looks like from here), the way the material is draped and bunched over the parent is amazing, I had no idea people could paint like this.

Again, this is what I think is one of the key differentiators* between Gieger and Beksinski. There are quite a few sexual/maternal images in his back catalouge, but none of them are like pop-up ads for porn sites flashing in neon letters "Big, hard, ejaculating cocks!" like a lot of Geiger's work seems to be.

*So not a real word.

[Frinky]

Bump.

Apparently, Constantine, which is coming out of the 18th of next month, is supposed to have a *lot* of imagery "inspired" by Beksinski's artwork. The film is said to suck nuts (no suprise), but it might be worth viewing to see how they translated his ideas into film (although, probably not).

Zip is down now, I'm afraid, some fucker here linked it offsite.

[Regular John]

Constantine looks Daredevil bad.

I was thinking the other day that a video game or movie based on a Beksinski style would be amazing so I might have to struggle through Constantine just to see if it does work.

[slim]

Oh dear. I saw the Constantine trailer and thought it looked like a load of dimwits had been given an IL&M machine or something. All huff, so substance by the looks of it. I can see what you're saying about the stylistic influence though, it all looked "gates of hell" dark...