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Drawing with Body, Drawing with Sound, 2002;
charcoal, pencil, artist's body on architectural transfer paper,
sound; in collaboration
with Stephen Vitiello; 130 x 210 inches; courtesy of the artists
and Diapason Gallery. Photo: Hermann Feldhaus |
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Through drawing,
performance, video, and installation, New York-based Polish artist Monika Weiss
creates environments which relate to the body and its condition in the space
between biology and culture. In her drawings an anonymous, alienated silhouette
appears, posturing in undefined states of waiting, or reacting to the unknown.
In her performative installations the viewer encounters scenes of repetitions
and rituals, counteracted by projected video documenting the action. Such works
combine states of endurance and duration with symbolic forms reminiscent of
medieval paintings, and with the formal simplicity of Minimalism.
Vessels presents
new installation, sculpture, drawing, and writing. It includes a multi-media
performative installation Limen/Meadow (Achea Rheon) in
collaboration with sound artist Stephen Vitiello (in
the Project Room); a video-and-sound
sculpture White Chalice (Ennoia); recent
charcoal
and mixed-media drawings; and a selection of artist’s texts written between
2002-2003 exploring the ideas of containing and being contained, landscape,
body, surface,
and metaphors of fluidity.
Ennoia (Performing Water), 2003; cast-concrete
vessel, water, artist's body,
sound, 5-hour immersion; courtesy of the artist and the Chelsea Art Museum,
New York. Photo: Quyen Tran.
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Dwie, 2003; charcoal on photographic backdrop
paper; 85 x 105 inches; courtesy of the artist and Chelsea
Art Museum. photo: Hermann Feldhaus.
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White Chalice, 2003; charcoal, wine on canvas;
80 x 110 inches; courtesy of the artist and Chelsea Art Museum.
Photo: Hermann Feldhaus.
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Weiss received her Master's degree in painting
and drawing from the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw. She has been a
visiting artist
at universities in Europe and the United States, including School
of The Art Institute of Chicago, 2002; University of Maryland, 1999;
Georgia State University School of Art and Design, 1997-98; Spelman
College, 1996; and Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts, 1994-95. In
New York City Weiss exhibited at the Chelsea Art Museum, 2003; El
Museo del Barrio, 2003; and Diapason Gallery, 2002. Solo exhibitions
include Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, 1997; BMB Gallery,
Amsterdam, 1993 and 1996; and Galerie Espace Degree, Luxembourg,
1995. Her drawings are part of the permanent collection of the Albertina
Museum, Vienna. In 2003 her works were part of Art in General's Annual
Artists' Benefit StudioTour; the Whitney Museum of American Art's
Family Day; and Saatchi & Saatchi 's Harlem Art Project/Ray of
Light benefit auction. She is currently a member of the New York-based
artists' and curators' organization Nomads + Residents. In 2005,
her new longterm installation Ennoia will be featured as part of
You Won't Feel a Thing, curated by Aneta Szylak, Kunstlerhaus Bethanien,
Berlin.
Curated by Nina Colosi.
MONIKA WEISS VESSELS was made possible thanks
to the generous support of Chelsea Art Museum. Additional support
was provided by Experimental
Intermedia Foundation and Polish Cultural Institute, New York.
Special thanks to Dr. Dorothea Keeser. Additional thanks to Brendan
Atkinson, Carlton Bright and Mathew Griffin. |
