Marisa Merz
| Marisa Merz | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1926 Turin, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Known for | Sculpting |
| Movement | Arte Povera |
| Awards | Biennale di Venezia Award for Lifetime Achievement |
Marisa Merz (born 1926) is an Italian sculptor, widow of artist Mario Merz. She now lives in Turin.
Marisa Merz was born in Turin, Italy in 1926. In the 1950s she met Mario Merz who was studying there, and they later got married. They have a daughter, Beatriz (Bea) Merz.
Marisa Merz was the only female to be accepted into the Arte Povera family. In 1967, for her first solo exhibition, Marisa made a folded aluminium foil installation. This exhibition was in June at the Gian Enzo Sperone gallery in Turin. She was also one of the people involved in the Arte Povera + Azione Povera exhibition the following year at the Amalfi event. This show is the only Arte Povera exhibition that she participated in. Then in 1969 she had another solo show at the Attico Gallery in Rome. Mario was supportive, evidently when he carried big rolled up blankets, created by Marisa in the Attico show. They had separate artistic lives, but were equally supportive of each other's work. Although in the 1970s she didn't have exhibitions often, in 1970 she had a solo exhibition in Rome. This exhibition featured installations made by using knitted copper, under the title of Ad occhi chiusi gli occhi sono straordinariamente aperti ('To closed eyes, the eyes are extraordinarily open').
She was not an extensively recognized artist at the time, despite her huge contribution to the scene. The growth of feminism played a big role in her career, where society began to give her more consideration. Her work displays many of the fundamental issues with which Arte Povera artists are preoccupied, such as organic forms, focus on subjectivity, the use of lower forms of art, such as the crafts, and the relationship between art and life. Marisa's work has been described as lyrical, subtle, visionary and private.
She often includes aspects of crafts and practices traditionally associated with women (e.g. knitting), and she often uses materials such as copper, aluminium, waxed paper and paraffin wax, which reflects her home environment, and "call[s] into question—if not subvert—the high-gloss finish of fine art and its deadness as an institutional commodity." Her installations feature the idea of the home as a place intimate, private and feminine. An example is her 1966 installation, Untitled (Living Sculpture), which was intended both her home and to be presented in a gallery (she once said 'There has never been any division between my life and my work'). The installation consisted of thin strips of aluminium, clipped and suspended from the ceiling, forming coils and spirals. The work was acquired by Tate Modern in 2009.
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