The Drawers - Stephan Bircher Commentary written by Julie Oakes
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When
the dead are raised, re-arranged, mixed together, slotted into recognizable
activities, lit to their greatest advantage and then elevated to the status
of Fine Arts by a mad creator; the dance of death begins with an oom-pa-pa
that resonates with a sad familiarity. Viewing the antics that the skeletal
hybrids are engaged in, our little lives become less fragile as we watch
them - afloat on an ocean in a steel boat, whirling atop a carousel, showing
off (revealing the private parts with no shame!) or posing on a precipice,
ready to leap or take flight. The mutation from death to a reinvigorated
life gives an immediate sense of relief that strikes back the fears of
mortality and allows an appreciation of the moment - the exact moment in
front of the sculpture - to over-ride the knowledge of our own inevitable
end. This is the world of the Theater of the Absurd, black comics and satire
where the weight of living with the awareness of death recedes in the
immediacy of the wonderful moment.
The assemblages engage time despite the frozen moment on the stage of life,
by virtue of the objects wedded to the recycled road-kill or neglected
carcasses. Stephan Bircher claims objects from the past, as well as animals,
and changes their character from the original form-follows-function to
form-making-suggestions. He does this with the new beings that he fashions,
their environment and the way we are directed to focus on them using
lighting fixtures that have had 'other lives.' This packrat version of
claiming his art supplies is superseded by expertise however and thus the
assemblages rise into the world of fine art and phenomenal objects. These
pieces are labored over with attention paid to details that went unnoticed
in their original existence.
The creator has become a divine craftsman, like Giuseppe making his beloved
Pinocchio or a watchmaker making it all tick. The dancing-death imagery, lit
as if on the stage of life far after it's allotted term, shows the patience
and care of a Swiss watchmaker. Originally from Switzerland, Stephen Bircher
has worked as a lighting designer for many theatrical productions and now
brings his expertise to bear on a world over which he has total control,
from the writing of the script, to the set design, costuming, lighting and
grand finale of the amazing macabre moment of fame.
Copyright © 2006, Headbones Gallery, The Drawers