Are you familiar with the art of Zdzisław Beksiński? If not you should definitely catch up, as he really was a superior and one of the most recognisable modern creators in Poland. For the first time Kraków organises exhibition devoted to his works in Nowa Huta Culture Center. It will cover over one hundred items, such as early photograps and sketches, as well as paintings from the most fruitful period of his career. This unique show will last only from the 3rd till 19th October 2014.
He was not only a painter but also a photographer and sculptor. His speciality was a kind of utopian art, as he did his paintings and drawings in what he called either a ‘Baroque’ or a ‘Gothic’ manner. His creations can be separated in two periods. The first one is contains expressionistic colors and a strong style of “utopian realism” and scary, surreal architecture, such as a doomsday scenario. The second period was more abstract style, featuring mostly in formalism.
In spite of Beksiński’s art was often depressing and grim, he himself was known to be a nice person who enjoyed conversations and had a good sense of humor. He was modest and somewhat shy, he would often avoid public events such as openings of his own exhibitions. As his main source of inspiration he choose music. He wouldn’t admit to be much influenced by literature, cinema or the work of other artists, and almost never visited museums or exhibitions. Beksiński didn;t like concrete analyses of his work, saying “I cannot conceive of a sensible statement on painting”. But definetly he was dismissive of those people who offered simple answers to what his work ‘meant’.
Late 1990s were a very tragic time for Beksiński. His wife, Zofia, died in 1998 and a year later on Christmas Eve 1999, his son Tomasz (who was a very popular radio presenter, music journalist and movie translator) committed suicide. Beksiński was the one who discovered his son’s body.
On 21 February 2005, Beksiński was found dead. It happened in his flat in Warsaw with 17 stab wounds on his body. It all happend because of Robert Kupiec (who was the teenage son of his caretaker). He pleaded guilty and was arrested shortly after the crime. He was sentenced 25 years in prison with his accomplice to 5 years by the court of Warsaw. It all happend because of before his death, Beksiński refused to loan Robert Kupiec a few hundred złoty (approximately $100).
