Leading ceramic artist, Julian Stair OBE, presents new works in Art, Death and the Afterlife. Created in response to the global pandemic, Stair offers commemoration and solace for those who have died and lost loved ones.
Around thirty new artworks by the artist, including monumental figural forms, will invite the viewer to meditate on the relationship between the clay vessel and the human body. They will be presented alongside objects from the Sainsbury Centre Collection, selected by the artist to communicate the universality of death as aesthetic inspiration and philosophical inquiry. By drawing together ancient Cycladic marble figures, anthropomorphic vessels from Ecuador, Nigeria and Japan, and twentieth-century drawings by Alberto Giacometti, Stair creates a poetic and moving meditation on the human condition. Positive and uplifting, Art, Death and the Afterlife explores humanity’s reliance on art as a means of traversing the unknown and overcoming the finality of death.
