Untitled 1998

Zdzislaw Beksinski made this untitled painting of oil on canvas, and I reckon he was getting lost in the process of its making. I see the figures almost dissolving in the creamy mist, their forms fragile and their features are indistinct, yet they have such a presence. There's a lot of blending and layering of tones. Look at the colour around the bottom, see how it fades from brown to lilac and back again? What does it mean? What does it matter, right? I feel a bit of kinship with Beksinski and the surrealists: making things that look like they've come straight from a dream. Who knows where these figures are going, or why, but I'm all for letting a painting pose questions rather than offer answers. It's all about letting things be open to possibility. Like life.