Zdzisław Beksiński (1929-2005) - True Inspiration

http://www.beksinski.pl/

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I stumbled upon the work of this graphic master just the other night, and find it (as most would, I expect) extraordinarily compelling.

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Anamorphosis

A distorted or monstrous projection or representation of an image on a plane or curved surface, which, when viewed from a certain point, or as reflected from a curved mirror or through a polyhedron, appears regular and in proportion; a deformation of an image.
- Webster’s, 1913.

I’ve decided this is a subject too interesting too pass up. I was first introduced to the phenomena of Anamorphosis through a short Penn & Teller informational video on the mechanics of artistic perspective in an art class, but it wasn’t until some time later when I discovered the work of the Brothers Quay in the form of a Kino Video release, fully-loaded with slightly grainy, but still beautiful films that I was properly introduced to the fascinating subject.

Anamorphosis is a technique of optical distortion to create an image which, at first glance, is either completely hidden behind groupings of anonymous lines or various images created atop it, or appears to be something else completely. Yet, when viewed at a certain angle, or through a particular means of reflection to reverse the distortion, the initial image becomes clear. The first known example of Anamorphosis, a sketch from Leonardo Da Vinci’s diaries, dates back to the late 1400s. Hans Holbein the Younger, an early 16th century German artist most known for his woodcuts of the Dance of Death, was very interested in the process, and went on to paint perhaps the most well-known example of Renaissance Anamorphosis, the 1533 painting ‘The Ambassadors.’

During the 19th century the technique became more of a novelty feature, and dropped from the realm of fine art. Yet, not only did Anamorphosis see new life during the 20th century, from artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Salvador Dali, it has also become the basic principle behind such film formats as CinemaScope and Panavision, employing anamorphic lenses on motion picture cameras and projectors; ‘squeezing’ the image horizontally to fit into the film frame, and then ‘stretching’ it while being projected through a complementary lens during projection.

Anamorphosis
Uploaded by confidencial

De Artificiali Perspectiva (Anamorphosis), 1991, by the Brothers Quay.

Plakaty! Plakaty! Plakaty!

http://www.polishposter.com/ is undoubtedly one of the best sites for Polish poster art online. Not only can one view extensive galleries of posters designed for the stage, cinema, and advertising, but micro-biographies for each artist are supplied as well. AND, to top it all off, they also have a large stock of original posters up for purchase.

The poster shown above is by Franciszek Starowieyski, an artist who turned his skills to poster design sometime in the 60s; his amazing work reaching up to the 90s. His incredibly powerful poster for Witkacy's Beyond Reality from 1981 is featured briefly in the opening sequence of the Brothers Quay's most well-known film, The Street of Crocodiles.

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There's always been so many things about poster design that have fascinated me. A poster artist once famously claimed, albeit rather biasedly, that posters are the most important art form, because of the mass’s constant exposure to them. I think there’s something true about this statement because, as can be seen at Polishposter.com, this stuff really is fine art, and it’s designed with a singular purpose. So much good art is never experienced, whereas posters have always been near the frontline, so to speak.

I have to knock a few things off my wall and make room for a new poster soon . . .