"Ecce Homo Macedonicus: The Eighth Wonder of the World" is the new work of the sculptor Zarko Basheski, which will be presented to the public on August 12, starting at 20:XNUMX p.m. in the Scientific Art Center "House of Urania" at MANU in Ohrid.

Free Press was visiting the author's studio, where we saw and touched the new sculpture up close. During the creation of this work, Bashevski for the first time uses different materials than the standard ones he has dealt with so far, such as resin, silicone, polyester.

– I tried with completely different materials to revive my, perhaps, most famous sculpture "Ordinary man". This time, for the first time, I used bronze and steel during the production, I wanted to get that mirror moment, so that the observer could see himself in the sculpture. Later, after many years of discussion, Plevneš and I realized that this was the right moment to combine my sculpture and his most famous work, the novel "Eighth Wonder of the World", so the idea for "Ecce Homo Macedonicus: Eighth World Wonder" was born to become through 20- meter artistic achievement. I wish it could be found on Galichitsa, symbolically for the man to rise from the mountain, and behind him to see the two lakes. In that way, I want to show the connection between the man who looks up, the sky, the water and the earth - he says Free Press Basheski.

According to Basheski, this work would be a real attraction for tourists and would represent Macedonia throughout the world, and at the same time, as the author says, it would also symbolize the cradle of civilization.
The curators of the exhibition, which will last until August 27, are Jordan Plevnesh and Venko Andonovski.

When the writer Andonovski saw the sculpture for the first time, he was shocked because the sculpture was not complete.

- It's half way through! But if it is not whole it does not mean that it is not complete. Sometimes the halves are more complete than the wholes (like our divided Macedonia), and here art is the magic of healing what is incomplete or damaged! If you look carefully at this sculpture, it will seem to you that it is still in the making, as if it is some cosmic unfinished project in eternal change and change, like our spiritual Macedonia, the ancestral home of words, literacy and the arts, an unfinished spiritual home that at the moment there is again a temporary and unimportant constitutional name for official use - writes Andonovski.

Basheski wishes that the authorities recognize the magnitude of this work, understand the message and have support for the realization of the idea.

– I am aware that it will not be simple, this is a really serious and complicated project. And the state must stand behind this idea. I expect a difficult process. Above all, it is important to me that they understand the sculpture. This is not a monument, those things should be distinguished. I sincerely hope to find understanding. And the audience will understand, I know, but they don't have the power to do the joint project - said Basheski.

The exhibition "Ecce Homo Macedonicus: Eighth Wonder of the World" is part of the annual program of MANU and includes a dozen already known works of the author.

See the whole conversation below: