4/12/13

Julien Stair: Quietus

A profound and moving installation of Stair's extraordinary funerary vessels in what must surely be the most perfect possible setting. The Deadrooms beneath Somerset House are marked by memorials to house staff who died in service over a century ago. Placing this series of meditative and provocative works here is clearly done without glib motive. Stair's pieces range from huge jars in which a body could be stored upright to head sized drums intended for ashes. One of these drums, isolated at the furthest point of the space is formed of a porcelain in which the ashes of a dead friend substitute for the bone ash sometimes used. Two films of this friend accompany the work, one of old family movie footage , the other a series of dissolving chronologically ordered photographs. There is a recording of the friend's voice. As I watched, a single droplet of water fell from the ceiling beside the photographs. It felt as though the space itself was weeping at his loss. Quite wonderful.