Keimai II (Inferno), 2007 Site-specific drawing and live performance, graphite, charcoal, pages from Dante Alighieri's "Commedia Divina" published in Italy in 1910, and the artist's body, on rice paper. Courtesy the artist and Remy Toledo Projects, New York.
Keimai II (Inferno), 2007
In Keimai II (in Greek "I lie down") Weiss, dressed in black dress, barefoot and with her head covered by black scarf, lies on the large-scale canvas made of rice paper with collaged book pages from Dante's "Commedia Divina," published in Italy in 1910. The artist crawls silently on this bedding of text with her eyes closed. She draws abstracts lines around her body with crayons, graphite, dry pigment and charcoal. These lines leave marks on the book pages and the entire paper surface gradually becomes darker as the drawing appears more and more visible. Drawing around her body as she lies down onto the book pages, the artist marks a new layer of meaning, the physical layer of drawn lines as well as the symbolic layer of her performative act. Silence is part of this experience and pedestrians are asked to remain silent.
From Press Release, Cornice Art Fair/Remy Toledo Art Projects: Monika Weiss and Federica Marangoni, Venice, Italy June 7-10, 2007
