Friday, March 2, 2012

Life and Death- A Juxtaposition

In this image we see one lonely man walking through a "hall" of large statues of hooded skull figures. The corridor seems to go on endlessly. There are flocks of birds flying away from what are presumably their nests in the crevices of the statues. It follows a monotonous color scheme using foggy, putrid yellows contrasted with a small amount of green in the shadows.

Although not obviously about life and death; in this work they are not polarized. However, the juxtaposition of the two is very apparent. The foggy hallway is completely barren of other people. The lone figure appears to be either lost or exploring a relic of ancient peoples. Skulls peak out through the hoods of the giant statues, a clear indicator of death. They almost look down at the man, awaiting his collapse. The juxtaposition is specifically that of the lone man walking with a torch, and the statues as a reminder of a civilization past. A lone man alive in a dead world.

Zdzislaw Beksinski: unnamed piece done in oil

link to his online gallery here: http://www.beksinski.pl/ click on "Original Works"

1 comment: