Untitled 1998

This untitled painting by Zdzislaw Beksinski, nearly a meter square, is an eerie totem arising from a blood-red earth, fading into a misty horizon. I wonder about the painting process—the layering and scraping, the pushing and pulling of pigment to evoke this spectral form. I empathize with Beksinski, imagining him in the studio wrestling with these haunting images. Was he thinking about mortality, memory, or the subconscious? The texture is crucial here. Is it thick, like impasto, or thin, like a wash? The layering creates a sense of depth and decay, like an archaeological find. That central form almost looks like a body wrapped in shroud. It makes me think of other artists, like Francis Bacon, who delved into the grotesque and the visceral. Artists are always responding to one another, picking up threads, and pushing them further. Painting is just one big conversation across time. It's an ongoing exchange, with each artist contributing their unique voice to the mix, inviting us to see and feel the world in new ways.