Untitled 

This painting was made by Zdzislaw Beksinski, although we don't know exactly when. He worked primarily with oil paints, and occasionally acrylics, on hardboard panels. Here, the decay of an airplane is rendered in a ghostly monochromatic palette. Note the way the paint has been applied in distinct layers, almost like sedimentation. This technique gives a sense of geological time, as if the aircraft is slowly returning to the earth. The smooth, almost airbrushed application of the paint contrasts starkly with the unsettling subject matter. The artist's painstaking process mirrors the slow violence of entropy. Beksinski’s use of traditional painting techniques is subverted, used not to celebrate life, but to confront our inevitable demise. Ultimately, it's the artist's engagement with his materials and techniques that transforms this painting from a mere depiction of decay into a profound meditation on mortality.