Sorry, this is kinda weird journal, but this is mainly to show off his work since the 24th is his birthday, and I pretty much worship the ground he stood on. Zdzislaw Beksinski was an AMAZING artist who does not get as much credit as he deserves. For those who don't know who he was, he was a Polish surrealist that lived a very hard and sad life all while painting such beautiful paintings that seem dark and hellish, but really aren't and are some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
You can visit these sites that contain a good chunk of his work:
http://www.beksinski.pl/
http://beksinski.dmochowskigallery.net/galeria_past.php?lang=e
http://zdzislaw-beksinski.blogspot.com/p/paintings_7738.html
I really love his work, not just for the subject matter and design, but for it's archaicness and especially the colors. I could go on all day about the colors that he uses, especially during his semi-abstract period. It's a feeling that I cannot really describe and one of the most amazing things ever.
If you do end up looking at some of the sites, I suggest listening to some classical or lucid music to best fit the feeling.
Again, I do apologize for the odd journal, sorry
Interesting. I always love seeing how differently people think of similar subjects. http://hurbles.tumblr.com/post/73612810192/abystle-untitled-zdzislaw-beksinski-1974 This is probably one of my all time favorites. Colors are really important to me because they are able to portray emotion and are very thought provoking in their own manner. That's why I especially love this piece, the contrast and visceral deep red of the sky compared to the rocky and earthy ground. As well as the Baroque style landscape.
I read a lot of things about analysis and "reviews" about Beksinski's work, and they always describe it as horrifying and terror and is all about his subconscious trying to vent itself. But I've never been able to see it like that, I've always noticed an odd sense of calmness and serenity in his work like http://beksinski.dmochowskigallery.net/galeria_karta.php?artist=62&picture=262 and http://beksinski.dmochowskigallery.net/galeria_karta.php?artist=13&picture=3410 as well as this stuff from his "fantasy" period http://beksinski.dmochowskigallery.net/galeria_karta.php?artist=52&picture=2453 and http://beksinski.dmochowskigallery.net/galeria_karta.php?artist=52&picture=2448. It's really hard for me to describe this calmness, but his work, even his sadomasochistic and gore paintings, have never given me a sense of harshness and violence. To me, they feel like natural and common human emotions expressed through a man who lived a harsh life, in the form of surrealist drawings and paintings. This is purely my perspective and I could be wrong. Again, I do enjoy looking into the psyche's of artists and those who follow them, so it was really interesting to hear your own ideas ^ ^
Link
Lone Companion
I was unaware his birthday was coming up, but I recently remembered this image: http://31.media.tumblr.com/af8c4cca98fd012b9f1842faf10ab076/tumblr_n174vqGmU71s2ujpvo1_1280.jpg
And made a short blog post about how it is relevant to me personally.
http://lone-companion.tumblr.com/post/77069269005
I later expanded on that in a recent journal, which is long and goes into things besides, so I will copy past a few things here:
About the image above:
"...at some point recently I thought, I really need to find an image to stare at while meditating.
Since a lot of my Work has to do with Fear, this I think this is a good selection."
"This is probably the closest representation I’ve found of the way nightmare horses look-felt in my dreams. I can’t well remember how they actually looked, except that they were one of the most terrifying things I’ve encountered, at least, in my adult life. I think I initially called them zombie horses, and later realized they were “nightmares.” Their appearance was difficult to see or understand, and like nothing I’d seen while awake. I think they may have been made of Fear. I think, the Dream world (part of the Inner World) may be made of Meaning, as things out here are made of Matter. And these horses are made of Fear.
There is something about the textures in this, the vagueness of how the horses blend into each other, the elongated snouts, among many other unidentified traits, that makes this image effective. I think, the inability for me to yet recognize all the traits that make it have the effect it does, may be in part or even wholly, what enables the effect. Probably, something about our partial-prey-animal minds, or something in our evolution, is set to be triggered by a few things in here. Though these do not seem to me predators, so much as diseased, unfortunate, uncontrollable, unknown. Something to do with another type of fear, than being eaten by a monster...
I love them.
I can not yet know why they are frightening, nor why the entities in my mind they point my awareness toward are so particularly effective, but I may eventually figure this out, and I love them. They may be some combination of eerieness, ghastyliness. and terror. I will probably be figuring out a term for this type of Fear. "
https://www.weasyl.com/journal/39265/fear-mandala-horses-and-nightmares-beksi-ski-personal-myth-etc