The large retrospective is hosted at the headquarters of the foundation that bears his name
The Mario Merz Foundation hosts until February 2nd “Something that removes the weight that retains the absurdity and the lightness of the fable”, a title taken from the artist’s writings, awarded in 2003 in Japan by the prestigious Praemium imperiale. A first part of the exhibition, opened last February, was accompanied by the presentation of the “Catalogue raisonné. Mario Merz. Igloo” and the video-documentary “What to do?/Mario Merz”.
Now, a second part of the exhibition starts from the concept linked to the need to identify the deep nature hidden behind the models, to get to the ultimate root of human thought, which, in its diversity and structure, is always defined by laws that escape the passage of time and the variety of environments.
In 2003, in Japan, he was awarded the prestigious Praemium imperiale
The artworks on display support the organizers’ desire to highlight the main concepts that have animated Merz, through a path that, always quoting the artist, “maintains the absurdity and lightness of the fable”. Here the golden reflections emanated from the Igloo Senza Titolo (gold leaves) dated 1997 are combined, completing the dreamlike atmosphere and the poetic breath, the artwork Quattro tavoli in forma di foglie di magnolia, 1985 (exhibited for the first time in Europe) and the delicate transparency of the vases in L’horizont de lumière traverse notre vertical du jour, 1995.
To him, thought is always defined by laws that escape time and space
There are also the installations of two other igloos as well as an imposing painting from 1983: Geco in the house. The exhibition system is based on Merz’s criteria, under the sign of an apparent disorder that actually follows his precise conviction: to structure dialectics between the works, so as to create a fertile ground for a polysemy, an open interpretative structure.
It leaves room on one side for the further subjective narratives of the user and, at the same time, promotes metamorphoses of meaning and the recomposition of harmonic and unpredictable unions.
Also the Igloos and the Quattro tavoli in forma di magnolia on view, exhibited for the first time in Europe
A worthy celebration that also recalls the 70th anniversary of the first solo exhibition in 1954 at La Bussola gallery in Turin and the 40th anniversary of the installation of the Fibonacci Series at the Mole Antonelliana (always in Turin) in 1984. Ten years later, the same operation will be carried out on the chimney of the Turku electricity company in Finland.
