Lingotto 1969

Mario Merz, in his work, assembled a collection of tree branches with a metal tripod and a wooden block. I imagine Merz out in the landscape, gathering these birch branches, maybe in the Italian countryside. You know, the kind of place where Arte Povera was brewing. He's handling each branch, feeling its texture, its weight, choosing which ones to bring back to his studio. The bare branches reach upwards, as if still rooted. The metal tripod and the wooden block suggest a fusion of industrial and natural elements. Merz often explored the intersection of nature and culture, and this feels like a potent example. It reminds me of other artists who brought the outside in, like Eva Hesse with her sculptural use of natural materials. It’s a beautiful collision of the raw and the constructed. Artists are always borrowing, arguing, and riffing off each other, a beautiful mess of inspiration across time.