Maker/Artist
Merz, Mario
Italian painter, sculptor, and photographer, 1925-2003
A leading artist of the Arte Povera movement in the 1960s who worked in sculpture, painting, installation, and photography. He used ordinary objects and everyday junk while also employing traditional art materials. Recurring themes in his work include the igloo and the Fibonacci sequence. A retrospective of Merz's work was staged at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1989. He was the recipient of a 2003 Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association.