COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0004049
image_record_id
aahi0004049
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
Fibonacci Igloo
Image Title:
installation view
Work Dates (display):
1972
Work Dates type:
creation
Image Date (display):
2009-03-16
Work Creator (display):
Mario Merz (Italian, 1925-2003)
Work Creator gender:
male
work_creator_or_agent_gender
male
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
Sculptor and painter. He began work as a painter in Turin during the 1950s in the then dominant style of Art informel. Analysing, on a macroscopic scale, certain natural phenomena such as the leaves of plants, he aimed to expose their essential structure and in so doing created paintings containing spirals and parabolic lines within a 'picturesque' network, for example Seed in the Wind (1953; priv. col., see 1983 exh. cat., p. 27). He also addressed himself to the human image, as in The Welder (1956; Turin, Gal. Civ. A. Mod.). After experiencing a crisis in his work during the early 1960s, from 1966 (probably under the influence of Neo Dada and Nouveau Réalisme) Merz rejected the reproduction of images by means of paint on canvas, replacing such traditional methods with the direct use of objects such as bottles or raincoats. Merz did not content himself, however, with the mere presentation of ready-made objects; it was not that he turned his back on the informal, organic inspiration of his work, but that he now entrusted it to a medium derived from the technical world, from human intervention. In works such as Pierced Glass, Pierced Bottle (1967; priv. col., see 1983 exh. cat., p. 40) this took the form of the neon tube, which acts as a shaft of cosmic, yet 'cold' and concentrated energy, that penetrates objects and prevents them from becoming enclosed in static isolation. Neon had already been used by other artists including Dan Flavin, but in ways still linked to the old Constructivist ideal. Merz's ideas were closer to those of Bruce Nauman, who also used neon in an organic way, as though it were a capillary vein, a thin irrigation canal. With the emergence of Arte povera in Turin in 19678, closely paralleled in other parts of the world by movements such as process art, land art and conceptual art, Merz rejected the use of ready-made objects and began to make his own objects, which would be better suited to his needs. A typical example of this was his use of the igloo (for illustration see Arte povera), a primary unit of 'poor' dwelling with roots in man's origins, but full of tensions and with the same curvilinear quality possessed by electric energy. One of the first of these, Giap's Igloo (1.2×2.0×2.0 m, 1968; Paris, Pompidou), consists of an iron armature covered in plastic bags filled with dirt; on top of this is a quotation in Italian from General Giap, spelt out in neon letters in a spiralling form: 'Se il nemico si concentra perde terreno, se si disperde perde forza' (If the enemy masses his forces he loses ground, if he scatters he loses strength). Echoing ideas already proposed in the writings of Marshall McLuhan, for example concerning the notion of a 'global village', he suggested that the future of electronic progress lay in the revival of primeval nomadic civilizations and their implements. An ambiguous suspension between past and future was proposed by Merz in his juxtaposition of 'poor' materials, such as earth, sticks and wax, with materials suggestive of modern progress and sophistication, such as neon or glass panels. In 1969 and 1970 Merz made his most important discovery, a sort of cosmic law extrapolated from the numerous natural phenomena he had thus far examined. In works such as Crocodilus Fibonacci (1972; Paris, Pompidou) he made particular reference to the Fibonacci sequence, named after the 13th-century Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci, which consists of an infinite succession of numbers, each calculated as the sum of the two preceding ones. When graphically interpreted, it results in elliptical or parabolic schemes that in effect regulate a large number of organic schemes in vegetable and animal life, such as the spiral arrangements of certain petals or branches. It could be said that in basing works on this principle Merz arrived at a conceptual or 'dematerialized' art, in which the mental element (the phrase, the number) counts for more than its physical support. Even though in reality there is always an opportune correlation between these two aspects in Merz's work, the role accorded to the concept of the Fibonacci sequence prevents the physical data from imposing a picturesque element, as it had in Art informel; on the other hand, the physical element gives a solidity and bite to the excessive abstraction of the pure concept. During the early 1970s Merz gave pride of place to the concept, with the physical elements appearing solely in an exemplary role. In this way he demonstrated that the Fibonacci sequence is capable of explaining, with no distinction, the structure of the scales on a crocodile, the branches on a tree, the curvature of the Mole Antonelliana (a late 19th-century high-domed building in Turin, originally designed as a synagogue by Alessandro Antonelli), or the rhythm at which people enter a room. Such phenomena represent a thin veil, beneath which the relentless flow of a mathematical principle (brought into prominence by neon tubes in the shape of numbers) is immediately perceptible. In the 1980s Merz demonstrated a renewed interest in colour, image and manual values, through which he relaunched aspects of the picturesque that he had favoured at the beginning of his career, now enlivened by more abstract conceptual schemes and by the continued use of neon. (Renato Barilli and Matthew Gale. "Merz (ii)." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. 17 Mar. 2009 .)
Work Style Period:
20th century
work_styleperiod
20th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
Contemporary
work_styleperiod
Contemporary
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
home (concept)
subject
home (concept)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
nature
subject
nature
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
sculpture (visual works)
work_type
sculpture (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Worktype:
installations (visual works)
work_type
installations (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Worktype:
fiber art
work_type
fiber art
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
sculptures and installations
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
sculptures and installations
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Material and Technique (display):
metal tubes, cloth, wire, neon lighting
Work Measurements (display):
Igloo: 100 cm (H), 200 cm diameter
Work Location (Repository or Site) name:
private collection
Work Location (Repository or Site) role:
repository
Image Source Reproduction citation:
Collins, Judith. Sculpture Today. London: Phaidon Press, 2007.
image_source_copy_from_print_name
Collins, Judith. Sculpture Today. London: Phaidon Press, 2007.
Image Source Reproduction citation
false
Image Source Reproduction refid:
978-0-7148-4314-8
Image Source Reproduction page number:
134
Image Source Reproduction plate-figure number:
140
Image Source Reproduction refid type:
ISBN
Image Rights (display):
© Dorothee Fischer
Image Rights fair use checklist:
1) use of this image is for education and educational research; 2) access is restricted to University of Colorado and Auraria Higher Education Center communities; 3) the original photographer is credited if known; 4) the image is published; 5) the amount of the work in relation to the whole is needed for education or educational research; 6) the number of derivatives is the minimum required for education or educational research; 7) the image has not been found to be reasonably available for sale; 8) duplication of the image does not violate preexisting contracts.
Work Rights (display):
© Mario Merz
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Collection
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see