Mario Merz: dopo la domenica

In the essay, I concentrate on the works done and/or exhibited by Mario Merz at the show held at Galleria dell'Oca in Rome in 1978, when works by the artist were installed alongside a few pieces by masters of Italian art of the early 20th century. The works presented by Marz on that occasion summed up all the major concerns and traits of his practice: the connection between art and nature as conveyed by his use of the Fibonacci series; the shape of the igloo and the visualization of energy and forces impacting our reality; the return to painting and drawing as a revival of his early practice and a response to the latest artistic trends. By analyzing each piece within the broader spectrum of the artist's body of work, I could focus on a few major aspects of his art in the context of the major changes in the art of the late 1970s, and retrieve literary sources which inspired Merz, yet had never been properly acknowledged before (i.e. Kafka, Benjamin).