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)
My Connection:

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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