To write this blog post, I am inspired because last time I listened to David Bowie’s song “Warszawa.”
Moreover, while listening to this song, I reminded in my imagination Artworks of a Polish painter, Zdzislaw Beksinski. I was once again very amazed at how some Artworks can be cross-analyzed and linked to each other. I feel that both Bowie’s song and paintings of the famous Polish painter have a lot of specific, surrealistic common factors. Bowie crossed Warsaw, the capital of Poland, twice. The first time was in 1973. It was a year when he was traveling from Moscow to West Berlin.
After the journey, Bowie told his wife, Angie, that he had “never been so damned scared in his life.”
He did not mean the capitals of Russia and Germany. He was talking about Warsaw. The second trip took place three years later. He was traveling alongside Iggy Pop, from Zurich to Moscow. Inspired by the desolation that he saw in Warsaw, he wrote the song “Warszawa.” Nevertheless, the most prominent Polish city was not the only inspiration for the famous singer. The lyrics in the middle part of the track are based on a song made by the Polish folk choir, “Slask.” (Slask is a region in the southern part of Poland). On the second hand, the beginnings of Zdzislaw Beksinski’s creativeness reaches his young age when he lived in the south-eastern part of Poland (Sanok city). He moved to the Polish capital in 1977.
I want to stress that both David and Zdzislaw saw the same Warsaw’s grey, concrete buildings in the middle of 1970′.
In these times, Warsaw was a monumental, mundane, sad city, ruled by totalitarian, communists authorities. What is worse, it was the city that was destroyed by nearly 84% during the Second World War. The signs of the war were still visible in the ’70. Walls of such a city could inspire Bowie to write a song. In 70′ the Polish capital was inhospitable, surrealistic, and overwhelming in some creepy way. Like Beksinski’s paintings and drawings. Beksinski was fascinated with death, decay, and darkness. When I see his Artworks, I hear David Bowie’s song. When I am listening to the “Warszawa” song, I see drawings and paintings of Beksinski. In both versions, I see an apocalyptic vision of Warsaw.
Today, Warsaw is an open and safe city, both for inhabitants and visitors. It is not such an overwhelming city as it was in 1970′. There are a lot of artists who create here today. My dream is to become a proud, supplementary artist for both Bowie’s and Beksinski’s legacy. The legacy which could sometimes remind and lead to this unique city, Warsaw.
