SCULPTURE AS PURE PLASTIC STRUCTURE

At the present exhibition we get acquainted with Zarko Basheski (1957, Prilep) by way of an essential aspect of his art: his orientation for abstract plastic shaping. The basic material he uses in realizing his intentions is marble, which is convenient for explorations in the sphere of pure plastic phenomena. The author is in search of a plastic expression which is purely elementary: on the surface and in the mass of geometrical blocks he cuts regular linesa and measured distortions; he shells the form to discover its inner contents, creating a sharply shaped relief in the interplay between smooth and rough textures. The two or three blocks of marble, placed either vertically or horizontally, in their simplified rhythams or architectural qualities, render the measure of his feeling of space.

Consistently, Baseski creates abstract sculptures which he dismembers or connects in space, recomposing them into different concepts, emphasizing either their severity or calmness, either their sensibility or monumental quality. Their plastic concept is revealed as much in the characters of their form as in the nuances of their plastic traces and their special articulations. What is emphasized is the discovery of their pure plastic structures or the possible physical processes of matter, but never any associative or symbolic meanings of the sculptures. Baseski’s abstract expression is rigorous and consistent while some of his realizations, in their irregular corroded surfaces, are reminiscent of models for postmodernist buildings.

Baseski’s drawings present a parallel search which is, at the same time, essentially integrated with the characteristic aspects of his sculptural form. An essential meaning in them is also to be found in their whiteness and their clear countours.