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. Copyright © 2006, Headbones Gallery, The Drawers |