I have always felt ignorant in the field of painting. Little did I understand, little has really touched me. Not that anything has changed in this field after visiting the museum in Sanok, but it certainly confirmed my belief of what a great artist Zdzisław Beksiński was.
But what does that really mean? What touches us so much in someone’s work? What makes some works of human hands breathtaking, while others are being walked by indifferently? Craftsmanship, innovation, multi-interpretation? Or maybe extravagance or consistency and persistence of the creator himself? Or maybe, as I more and more often see, the story that we add to the artist and his works, often twisted up by others, most often those for whom it pays off for some reason?
As Zdzisław himself mentioned, there was no agenda in his work. He painted nothing else but pictures that he saw behind his eyes. Are the great of this world not rather people of great ideas, noble, impeccable? This is how we like to imagine them. At the same time, the more reports from a given person’s life, the more close, imperfect and ordinary they seem.
Sometimes I think that the time of great artists is at its end. Not because there are none between us, oh no, quite the opposite. There are many of them, but they are lost in the mass of information. There is so much of everything everywhere, that without the promotion of an individual, it is difficult to focus on one person. Because how to assess who is worth investing your time in, if we are touched by so many, so different contents.
Or maybe it has always been like this? There have always been many great artists, but not all of them matched the taste of the people that were deciding about the art’s future?
Or maybe there weren’t many of them, and the truly great are the ones we know? Historical justice exists, and outstanding art will defend itself?
I find it hard to believe, if for no other reason than the current acceptability/popularity of the medium on which it is created.
Because where is the art of memes, vlogs, graffiti, or even quotes on plaques during protests worse than poems, lyrics, music, painting? Both require creativity, lots of spent time, knowledge of the context in which it is created. Perhaps it is worth to give the credit not only for painters, poets, even singers, but also for the ones that create memes or other types of internet content? Not to elitize some media at the expense of others? After all, the great creativity grows not only in showrooms, but also, and perhaps above all, in backyards.
Well, not that I am an authority in the field of art evaluation :p lets leave its evaluation to specialists. I told what I knew and now I am uploading photos. Beautiful pictures!
