ASPHYXIA - Promotional poster for Zharko Basheski’s sculpture
Dimensions: 50 x 70 cm
Materials: forex, paper, silicone, resin, natural hair, real nylon
The silent scream of the suffocating man accuses. The world we live in today is polluted, dirtied, full of waste and garbage. It is a world of total destruction of nature, of industrial waste polluting mountains and seas; a world where man has been degraded and replaced by machines; where he feels deficient and degenerate; a world that does not belong to him anymore, a horrible world devastated by forces he no longer controls; a world of war conflicts, political manipulations, deceptions and lies. It is a world in which man cannot exist and the only thing for him to do is to struggle for yet another gasp before the unstoppable machine of death.
Asphyxia sets a state of perpetual returning; real death is no longer possible, there is only fascination with the illusion of constant coming back to life and pleasure. It is a world where life is lived to the last breath, there is no past or future, no comfort, redemption or satisfaction; it is a world where only sensuality is present; instead of structure, there is only absurd existence.
If we make an effort to hear what the suffocating man behind the foil says, it will probably be – I’m dying. It is not just a metaphor (metonymy) of ultimate ecstasy but its substitute: to experience orgasm is to die. Orgasm is a little death (Le petite mort). Death acknowledges life. Joy of life exists only because of the grip of death.
At the end, there is only a cry, regardless of the fact whether we are calling death in the ecstasy of pleasure, committing suicide or as victims of violence. This is the reason why Bašeski sculpture can be reduced to a single idea: human existence today defeats the idea of any meaning of human existence.
Sculpture: Zharko Basheski
Concept, Art Direction & Design: Ilija Dimkoski
Photography: Aleksandra Kostadinovska
