Animale terribile, 1981

Mario Merz’s work moves freely between the fields of culture and nature, which the artist considered indistinguishable.

The formal rules that provide the basis for his sculptures, environmental works, paintings, and a vast production of drawings possess the same laws of natural growth as those of the plant and animal kingdoms, but they are associated with a reverberation of images and forms from our cultural origins.

The igloo, the hemispherical form that Merz began working with beginning in 1967, is a primary example of these images. The artist wrote, significantly in upper case letters, IGLOO – CASA (igloo – house), thus summarizing the archetypical nature of his chosen form. [...]