I get a particular kind of heebeegeebees from those cinematic torture scenes where some poor soul meets their end with a plastic bag over their head. Of all the ways to be murdered, that one is right up there. Claustrophobic panic as the air runs out and the victim begins sucking in plastic. Nasty. Frankly it’s incomprehensible to me that people would willingly volunteer to have their heads wrapped in airtight cellophane, but volunteer they did — in the name of art, of course — for Miami artist Axel Void’s latest series of frighteningly good works.

Eight models underwent the carefully-staged ordeal for what would become Sehnsucht (“longing”), and Void’s subjects had more than just the thought of suffocation to deal with. A series of deeply personal video interviews were conducted with the models, which are being shown along with the oil paintings at BC Gallery, Berlin.

The humanity brought into focus through the interviews is at odds with the basic feelings of aversion provoked by the paintings. The longing of the title refers to a desire for something that hovers just out of our consciousness, not tangible enough to provide direction or purpose. Void’s unsettling paintings ask if a primal and acute struggle to survive can overcome the numbness of everyday mundanity. The oxygen runs out for this show on 26 September.

@bcgalleryberlin
@AXELVOID