2012David Weiss197579DIE WANDLUNGEN19754

Following up on Nine Books 1973 1979, Edition Patrick Frey and Edition Weiss now proudly present an exclusive new publication of another important body of work by the late, internationally acclaimed Swiss artist David Weiss (1946 2012). DIE WANDLUNGEN (The Metamorphoses) for the first time reproduces all 82 series of graphic metamorphoses dating from 1975 to 1979 in Marrakesh, Carona (Switzerland), and Zurich.

The first series of Wandlungen dates from 1975 when, deeply upset because his girlfriend Carmen has started seeing Guy Barrier, a Zurich revolutionary, David goes abroad. His travels take him via Yorkshire in England to Morocco, where he spends quite some time in Marrakesh. Without knowing in advance what he wants to draw, he begins each time at the upper left-hand corner of the sheet of paper, for example with a scribble, a dart, or a cube. The cube turns into a matchbox with a picture of a lion on it and a small deer inside it, which turns into a bone. The bone turns into a little man who pushes with all his might against the sides of the matchbox until the box collapses. The little man gets scared and, flat on his stomach, looks down over the edge of the cardboard base. The series of images ends with an ear of corn in which every grain has a face with a long nose. Pictures of those faces continue over several pages each page showing between 6 and 8 single drawings until a new series begins. Iwan Schumacher, Chur, 2014

In 1976, Edition Sthli published Wandlungen, a selection of 17 series of metamorphoses covering 73 pages, in a print run of 200 copies, each of which was numbered and signed by the artist. In the years that followed, Weiss continued his metamorphoses, switching from ballpoint pen on graph paper to china ink on plain white paper. By 1978 he had produced 84 drawings covering over 400 sheets of paper. The series vary from 1 to 37 pages in length.