Marisa Merz

Marisa Merz
Born	1931 Turin, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Field	Sculpting
Movement	Arte Povera
Awards	Biennale di Venezia Award for Lifetime Achievement

Marisa Merz (b. 1931 in Turin, Italy) is an Italian sculptor, widow of artist Mario Merz. She now lives in Milan.

Life

Marisa Merz was born in Turin, Italy in 1931. In the 1950s she met Mario Merz who was studying there, and they later got married. They have a daughter, Beatriz (Bea) Merz.

In 2001 she was awarded the Biennale di Venezia Award for lifetime achievement.

Work

In 1967, for her first solo exhibition, Marisa made a folded aluminium foil installation. She was also one of the people involved in the Arte Povera + Azione Povera exhibition the following year in Amalfi. Although in the 1970s she didn't have exhibitions often, in 1970 she had her second 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').

Her work displays many of the fundamental issues wiith 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 reflected her home environment. 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.

At the Venice Biennale of 1988 she had site-specific installations involving amorphous and coloured wax heads.

Links

• List of works
• List of exhibitions
• Tate Modern: Marisa Merz
• GroveArt: Marisa Merz
• ULAN Entries: Marisa Merz
• Sydney Biennale
• Tate Modern: Marisa Merz
• Recensione della mostra Marisa Merz. Non corrisponde eppur fiorisce (Venezia, 1 giugno - 18 settembre 2011)

Persondata
Name	Merz, Marisa
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1931
Place of birth	Turin, Italy
Date of death
Place of death