Memento Mori
For all their brilliance, Frederic Weber’s fiery gold and red Cibachrome photographs are somber and disturbing. Although contemporary in spirit, there is something anachronistic about these pictures. The heads preserved in these images are trapped in amber. It is as if they are ancient phantoms reappearing after thousands of years, now uncovered by the photographer-cum-archaeologist. The heads appear to have decayed. However, like the Pompeian figures trapped by Vesuvian lava, we can make out their final expressions and gestures. These photographs conjure a past that never was. But because they are photographs, and photographs tell the truth, we are convinced otherwise.
— Adam D. Weinberg
Curator, Permanent Collection
Whitney Museum of American Art
