Zdzislaw Beksinski: His Fantastic Realism

O Zdzisław Beksiński (1929-2005) ήταν Πολωνός ζωγράφος, οπαδός του Φανταστικού Ρεαλισμού με μπαρόκ και γκοθ ατμόσφαιρα στα πιο γνωστά έργα του, τα οποία είναι μακάβριες λεπτομερείς απεικονίσεις φανταστικών σουρεαλιστικών μετα-αποκαλυπτικών τοπίων, γεμάτων σκελετών, πτωμάτων σε αποσύνθεση και γενικά εικόνες μεγάλης παρακμής, καταστροφής και κυριαρχίας του θανάτου

Zdzisław Beksiński (1929-2005) was a renowned Polish painter, photographer, and sculptor who is best known as a fantasy artist. Beksiński executed his paintings and drawings either in what he called a 'Baroque' or a 'Gothic' manner. His most famous style is dominated by representation, with the best-known examples coming from his 'fantastic realism' period when he painted disturbing images of a surrealistic, nightmarish environment. Ελεγε ο ίδιος για τα έργα του πως ήθελε να ζωγραφίζει με τέτοιο τρόπο σαν να φωτογράφιζε όνειρα". Βρέθηκε δολοφονημένος το 2005, πιθανότατα από τους δυο νέους που είχε για βοηθούς.

Fantastic Realism initially began as a group of artists founded in Vienna in 1946. Beksiński was inspired by Ernst Fuchs who was the leader of The Fantastic Realists. In the late 1960s, Beksiński entered what he himself called his "fantastic period", which lasted up to the mid-1980s. This is his best-known period, during which he created very disturbing images, showing a surrealistic, post-apocalyptic environment with very detailed scenes of death, decay, landscapes filled with skeletons, deformed figures and deserts. These paintings were quite detailed, painted with his trademark precision. At the time, Beksiński claimed, "I wish to paint in such a manner as if I were photographing dreams".

Despite the grim overtones, Beksiński claimed some of his works were misunderstood; in his opinion, they were rather optimistic or even humorous. For the most part, though, Beksiński was adamant that even he did not know the meaning of his artworks and was uninterested in possible interpretations; in keeping with this, he refused to provide titles for any of his drawings or paintings. Before moving to Warsaw in 1977, he burned a selection of his works in his own backyard, without leaving any documentation on them. He later claimed that some of those works were "too personal", while others were unsatisfactory, and he didn't want people to see them. (wikipedia)

More of his works HERE and HERE