Page 93 - Studio International - November December 1975

This is precisely Merz's artistic strategy except that he
Mario Merz literally constructs objects to conform to concepts.
However, there appear to be crucial deficiencies in his
Institute of Contemporary Arts realizations. By reducing a meta-physical concept to a
3 September - 3 October material embodiment he sells it short, for example, a finite
series of photographs, neon numbers, or painted images
Reviewed by John A. Walker of tables does not render an infinite series visible however
large he makes his artworks (and this, presumably, is the
Artworks, to be comprehended, almost invariably require reason for the enormous size of the canvas at the
the viewer to have some particular knowledge in addition Roundhouse). Incidentally, computers easily excell Merz
to that supplied by the artwork itself. In Merz's case this by calculating progressions to thousands of digits.
particular knowledge concerns a numerical sequence Material objects perceived as 'art' are already
called the 'Fibonacci series' after Leonardo da Pisa meta-physical in character, therefore the addition of
(c 1170-1240), Filius Bonacci, an Italian monk who another meta-physical discipline (mathematics) appears
introduced Arabic mathematical concepts into Europe. to be redundant. In this light Merz's obsession with the
The Fibonacci numerical sequence is a summation series, Fibonacci series becomes absurd and the mathematical
that is, each number in it is the sum of the preceding two back-up in his art is revealed as a device for giving his
integers, eg 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 ... It has an interesting elegant constructions and paintings a spurious intellectual
property : the ratio of successive terms approximates more dimension (hence their inclusion in anthologies of
and more closely to the golden section ratio as the series Conceptual art as well as anthologies of Art Povera). The
proliferates ; a host of other properties are described in the function of the Fibonacci series in formal terms is
textbooks of mathematics. Furthermore, the series is unifactory : it provides a common structure for a variety
exemplified in nature in the breeding of rabbits and bees, of objects which, in other respects, are radically dissimilar.
in the reflections of light incident upon two sheets of One can admire the ingenuity Merz displays in developing
glass, in the logarithmic spirals of sea shells, in the his visual aids to assist our understanding of mathematics
structure of fir cones and in plant phyllotaxis (leaf and the charm with which he manipulates materials but
arrangement). For these reasons the Fibonacci series is his work is only apparently more profound than the rest of
often cited in books on proportion and dynamic symmetry the Art Povera and Process art created in such abundance
as evidence of the organic character and the in the late 1960's.
mathematical basis of certain aesthetic responses. In 1972, in a review in Art International, Carter Ratcliff
Merz showed at the ICA three sculptures (two 'igloos' pointed out that although Merz's art looks 'advanced' it is
constructed from metal tubing, tree branches, sheets of in fact traditional, intended, like Renaissance murals, to
glass and neon lettering and one stuffed reptile plus neon instruct. Art which is 'advanced' merely in terms of style
numbers), paintings (images of tables and spirals), rapidly becomes dated, and after the rigours of
drawings (images of cylinders and domes drawn in ink Fundamental painting —to which Merz pays homage in
and sprayed, pink paint), photographs and a videotape his black square, table imagery, paintings — his
(of the bar of a public house filling with customers). He 'impoverished' sculptures appear embarrassingly rich. As
also showed a gigantic painting (16 m x 6 m) of table Caroline Tisdall has suggested Merz's work
imagery, coloured pink and green, in a studio of the new demonstrates an ambivalence towards the clichés and
extension to the Roundhouse at Chalk Farm. Most of mannerisms of the avant garde (there is a certain half-
heartedness and irony in his use of self-reference, process,
unstretched unprimed canvas, and mixed-media),
nevertheless he seems unable to find a way of
transcending its limitations.

Colin Crumplin

Garage, 4-27 September
Mario Merz Table Painting 1974
Master's Degree
these works present the Fibonacci series in a variety of Course 1975
media and by means of imagery and numbers. In an
interview Merz remarked 'numbers are an abstract
Chelsea School of Art, 8-12 September
invention of man but become concrete when they are
used to count objects'. Hence the aim of Merz's work is to
render abstract mathematical concepts visible, or Reviewed by Catherine Lampert
concrete, by conjoining culture and nature. Elsewhere
Merz has illustrated the Fibonacci series by means of Cohn Crumplin's one-man exhibition at Garage was
seating spaces provided by a number of tables of different chosen from three groups of his work, the earliest series
sizes and by adding labels, in the form of numbers, to begun in 1969. This set of reliefs, the White Pieces,
existing structures, eg walls of buildings ; the spiral some of which were shown in 'Basically White' at the
structure of the Guggenheim Museum. ICA, established the mechanics of his investigation
What intrigues Merz about the Fibonacci series is its which centered on using chance to determine the final
exponential, dynamic, organic character. In his view the image. In the first case a given number of grains of rice
material world is finite whereas the numerical series were sprinkled on white surfaces in order to decide the
grows endlessly (is infinite) therefore it is symbolic of the position of small drilled holes. The procedure explored
infinite potential of man. Merz's work raises knotty repetition, with both random and geometric sequences
philosophical problems concerning time and space and, occurring within a single area. The Card Pieces, begun
more particularly, the relation of mathematical concepts in December 1974, repeated the idea of dropping
to the world. For Kant mathematics was a priori objects onto a neutral surface. However after the cards
knowledge (universal, necessary, logically independent were dropped and traced according to a predetermined
of experience) but he also believed that the addition of programme, the resulting diagrams served as models
two numbers to produce a third was synthetical, that is, for three-dimensional constructions. These constructions,
involved intuition. Therefore, the Fibonacci series consisting of a conglomeration of glued wooden
exemplifies, in Kant's terms, synthetic a priori rectangles which overlapped in a physical sense, were
knowledge. To the question 'how do a priori concepts hung directly onto the walls. Looking critically over
apply to objects ?' Kant answered that objects are made these series at what was achieved by working according
to conform to concepts instead of the other way round. to such a fixed procedure (theory, drawing, object) it
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