Untitled 

Curator: This unsettling vision comes to us from Zdzislaw Beksinski, known for his surreal and often disturbing imagery. This untitled painting certainly fits the bill. Editor: My initial reaction is a kind of desolate awe. The monochromatic palette, almost entirely brown and ochre, speaks of decay and dust. There's a distinct feeling of something being unearthed or, more accurately, something left to rot under the earth. I'm very interested in the materials, how he achieved this texture and effect. Curator: Look at how Beksinski populates this scene. Those skeletal figures within the box-like structures resemble a necropolis, boxes replacing graves, which brings to mind layered symbols of death and confinement, of souls trapped or perhaps transitioning. The vanitas theme is clear, though distinctly more bleak than traditional depictions. Editor: The way those boxes stack and tumble, however, suggests a history of violence—collapsing or overturned structures seem violently destabilized, especially the crude boxes which are quite material, they are made from somewhere, implying forced labour maybe to erect this ‘landscape’. It contrasts with more conventional oil painting; he uses the medium to suggest three dimensional structure, and quite deliberately does it very crudely Curator: The arrangement does remind me of Piranesi’s etchings, but without the implied grandeur of classical ruins. Beksinski completely twists any expectation of harmony or noble ruin by invoking allegory: What is this graveyard of souls all about? It feels both personal and deeply entrenched in the collective human consciousness of the late 20th century with it's apocalyptic terror and personal anomie. Editor: But look how thickly he must have applied the oil-paint to render these objects, which may imply also a form of waste or extravagance. So while Beksinski is using simple structures for these symbolic forms, the choice and treatment of the medium suggests otherwise. Curator: Yes, it does. These images of decay are a bleak mirror reflecting existential anxieties. Editor: Definitely a unique demonstration of materiality contributing meaning. I am still trying to work out how he built up this layered painting.