Mario Merz-Continent to continent
ARTIST
Mario Merz
From Continent to Continent
Date: 1985
Medium: Steel, glass, neon,
clay, and metal cables
Dimensions:m66 × 135 × 135 in
167.6
× 342.9 × 342.9 cm
Biography:
A key member of the Arte
Povera group, Mario Merz produced expansive mixed-media paintings,
sculptures, and installations, through which he propagated an egalitarian,
human-centered vision. Through art, he counteracted what he saw as the
dehumanizing forces of industrialization and consumerism. Together with
compatriots including Jannis Kounellis and Michelangelo Pistoletto, Merz eschewed fine art
materials in favor of everyday and organic matter, like food, earth, found
objects, and neon tubing. In 1968, he presented his first igloo, which became a
motif in his work, representing the fundamental human need for shelter,
nourishment, and connection to nature. By 1970, the Fibonacci sequence became
central to his work, shaping the tables and spiraling forms for which he was
known, and incorporated into his igloos and canvases. In these Merz sought
limitlessness, against the confines of modern life.
(https://www.artsy.net/artist/mario-merz)
Statement:
“Conceptual
art is a sounding instrument between printed words, luminous writings and
letters scrawled in a hasty nervous instinctive calligraphy" – Mario Merz
(http://www.pacegallery.com/artists/302/mario-merz)
Merz
was an Italian artist who was part of the anti- fascist regime during WWII and
consequently jailed for a time. While there he began to draw on anything he
could get his hands on. Later he experimented with painting and various other
mediums before finding a specialty in his Igloo motifs. Much of his work seems
to be a directive of his view of the human condition of today. ‘Continent to
continent’ for example was an interesting piece and to me spoke to the fact
that although we are all so connected there is a cold disconnect in the way we interact
and think of each other from across the globe.
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