Inferno: Geryon Edition 2018-2020

Book: 11 x 9 x 2.75”

Covers (Recto): artist-carved salvaged wood from Long Island City, NY

Covers (Verso): oil paint on wood

Spine: red leather with blind-stamped with artist’s design

Book: hand-colored copy of Inferno (Thornwillow Press, 2018)

Artist-made watercolor with pigments exclusively from Dante’s era, sourced from Zecchi, Florence, Italy

24 Karat gold used throughout

Carmino di cocciniglia (Cochineal Carmine) ink used for lead-letter rubricating, ancient recipe, Zecchi, Florence

Original “mistake” manuscript page tipped-in

Original India ink drawing on half-title page

Handmade Indian paper endpapers

Clamshell/Slipcase: cloth with artist-designed gold-stamped red leather spine label. Handmade Indian paper interior.

Notes: This book began with carving salvaged wood from my studio’s Long Island City neighborhood. Cover features the title with leaf/branch motifs, suggesting Dante’s “dark wood.” Cover verso painted in oil with the fleur-de-lis associated with Florence, Italy. I adapt the motif by adding the thistles connected to my name. Interestingly, a crack in the wood developed while making the cover. The crack was stabilized with glue, and for added stability I added nine horizontal staples to each side, suggesting a ladder and counting the circles of Hell. The back cover has a natural woodgrain image pattern and a hardware scar that suggested Geryon and his waterfall. I largely left the image uncarved but added my name. The inside of the back cover has oil painting reproducing Antonio Grifo’s motif from his illuminations in a 1492 Landinoedition of the Divine Comedy. The book features numerous full-color pages. Following the mythological suggestions of the back cover, the book features full-color watercolor paintings of the mythological characters in Dante’s Inferno: Charon, Geryon, Minotaur, Medusa, and many more. The book was exhibited with the original drawings at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale dell'Umbria in Perugia the exhibit Charun demonio e l’immaginario mitologico dantesco in 2021.