Marisa Merz at Hammer

The past twenty years have seen a great surge of attention by curators and historians towards the understudied, undervalued, underrecognized work of women. Not all deserve the renewed attention but a new exhibition at the Hammer is devoted to an artist who certainly does. Marisa Merz: The Sky Is a Great Space, organized by Connie Butler, is the first U.S. retrospective of the Italian artist’s wide ranging sculpture, drawings and ceramics from the 1960s to the present.

Marisa Merz, Living Sculpture, 1966. Aluminum. Overall displayed dimensions variable. Tate, London. Purchased with funds provided by an anonymous donor 2009. Image ©Tate London, 2015.

Marisa Merz, Living Sculpture, 1966. Aluminum and paint. 138 1/4 × 104 × 71 in. (351.2 × 264.2 × 180.3 cm). Art Institute Chicago; Acquisition purchased through prior gifts of Adeline Yates and Fowler McCormick; Wilson L. Mead fund.

Marisa Merz, Untitled, 1997. Paraffin, lead, copper wire, water, motor. 3 1/2 × 33 1/16 × 34 5/8 in. (9 × 84 × 88 cm). Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT,on loan to Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Torino, GAM – Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Torino. Photo: Paolo Pellion.

Marisa Merz, Untitled, n.d. Graphite, metallic paint, watercolor, ink, tempera, and pencil on paper. 11 5/8 × 8 1/8 in. (29.5 × 20.5 cm). Collection of the artist. Courtesy of Archivio Merz. Photo: Renato Ghiazza.

Marisa Merz: The Sky Is a Great Space, Installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, June 4–August 20, 2017. Photo: Brian Forrest.