Turbine

Perhaps best known for his igloos, Mario Merz began his artistic career as a painter. In the 1980s, Merz completed several large canvases that revisited his painting from the 1950s. For Merz, painting was associated with speed, an idea that recalls languages of movement, technology, and energy first associated with Futurism. Merz often used the Fibonacci sequence in his works. Here, the spiral pattern of the series is echoed by the circular turbine form, seen elsewhere in his use of the shell motif.

Turbina is also reminiscent of the artist’s works made with neon tubing, which he first experimented with in the 1960s. Here, the neon light tube extends out of the raincoat—a recurring element throughout Merz’s oeuvre. It suggests the body of the artist in absentia. The work thus emphasizes the artist’s mobile body, which is constantly on the move, leaving behind enigmatic clues.