Three paintings by Zdzislaw Beksinski: the possibility of art 'after Auschwitz'

The article analyses works of a well-known modern Polish artist Zdzislaw Beksinski (1929-2005) whose popularity is constantly growing in the contemporary world. He is called the founder of the Dark Art. Since the 1980s, Zdzislaw Beksinski's work has become extremely popular in France, Japan and the United States of America. Zdzislaw Beksinski is a prominent representative of the Polish Surreal Art style of the 21st century. There is a distinct evolution in the artistic works of Zdzislaw Beksinski. From the outset, his works of art fell within the basic parameters of Abstract Art, however later signs and forms of his works kept growing more figural although the specificity of this thingness asks for a special philosophical and cultural analysis in the course of which decoding of signs, forms and symbols specific to the works of Zdzislaw Beksinski is to be carried out. The conceptual link of Zdzislaw Beksinski's aesthetics with Kazimierz Malewicz's Suprematist Art is revealed. The article considers general philosophic and aesthetic ideas of Zdzislaw Beksinski, and an art review of three paintings by this artist is carried out. The works of Zdzislaw Beksinski are examined in the context of the history of Polish Surreal Art of the 20th century. Three of his works are analysed: 1) a work of art created in 1985; 2) a work of art created in the 1970s; 3) a work of art created in the early 21st century. These works have no author's titles. The key idea of the works is revealed on the grounds of a semiotic and symbolic analysis of his three works. This idea can be worded as follows. In the situation when God is crucified and is not resurrected, when the last hope of salvation is lost to man, when all his might is paltry in the face of an unknown horrifying adversary, in the situation of approaching the Doomsday, the total night when monstrosities (such as monstrous words) are getting active, all that is left for man to do is to remember this situation at every moment of time, understand the origin of words and the menace coming from them, and understand the defense mechanism against them; as well as to care for his fellowmen, defend them so as not to let them or himself be turned into stone by the horrors of the reality. Not a single "spiritual project", not a single "spiritual form" prevented Auschwitz (Oswiecism). And this, as Theodor Adorno believes, is the main outcome of the old Metaphysics. At the end of the research, a conclusion is drawn about the inner conceptual link of Zdzislaw Beksinski's art ideas and Theodor Adorno's philosophical ideas. Theodor Adorno's reflections on the impossibility of art "after Auschwitz" are visualized in Zdzislaw Beksinski's works of art.

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