Untitled 1997

This haunting vision in shades of brown and yellow, by Zdzislaw Beksinski, shows us a figure with a violin. I can almost feel the artist layering thin glazes to create this skin-like surface, watching the figure emerge from the sepia mist. Was he thinking about music? And how the body can be a vessel, a site for art-making? Look at the precise rendering of the violinist’s ring. What is it doing there? Is it about value, lost love, or some other melancholic fantasy? The whole figure seems to be disintegrating before our eyes, turning to dust, but still making music. Beksinski, like so many artists before him, seems to be grappling with our human condition. It's all so strange and beautiful and sad. Painting can do that - show us the beauty of what it means to be human. The conversation goes on.