Dymy opium, dymy kancelarii, dymy piekła
Opium Fumes, Office Vapours and the Smoke of Hell

Summary/Abstract: A narcotic atmosphere can sometimes result in the achievement of a desired state in which levitation and pure ecstatic experience become real. Although the case of the opium smoker, opium smoke with pain, together with the brain they provide the hand with a unique opportunity to write about transient yet extremely intense happiness. This is exactly what Jean Cocteau did in his “delicious little piece” called Opium in which he paints a picture with his pen of the delights experienced through the smoking of opium. This portrait persuades the reader that it is possible for a single moment to become a “work of art”. All that is necessary to achieve this is the opening of one’s lungs “with a million alveoli to the light of the poisonous smoke”. The mouldy air of the “legal machine” can cause a falsely accused person to lose their consciousness. This is what happens to Joseph K., the main character in Franz Kafka’s Process, who is devastated by the airless and oppressive atmosphere in the lawyers’ offices. “Why do mouldy vapours fill the court? Why does nothing work here? Why is everything consumed by chaos?” wonders Lech Bukowski. One question leads to another and finally the reader asks: “Why is the process moving towards such an absurd conclusion?” The paintings of Jean-Antoine Watteau express the smoke of hell carried within the human body concealed by fragile ribs. His tubercular cough which is equivalent to his brush stroke on the canvas, unveils “the hell of human desire congested in the lungs”. There is no difference, according to Bukowski, between the artist’s lung and his studio. Both seem to coexist in a creative symbiosis. Both inhale and exhale the same feverish activity which forces the artist to paint pictures filled with human desires. Bukowski’s extremely dense imagery is bewitching. It is also a challenge for the mind which has become lethargic as a result of receiving too much impassive information.

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