Arte Povera

Mario Merz - Fall of the House of Usher - 1979. Oil, metallic paint and charcoal on canvas, with neon fixture and rock, Overall 11' 8 1/2" x 14' 3/4" (356.9 x 428.6 cm). Anne and Sid Bass Fund. © 2012/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome, Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) New York, NYItalian for "Impoverished Art" or "Poor Art", the term Arte Povera is a label for a small group of artists who were experimenting with nontraditional and politically charged art, in 1960s-1970s Italy. These artists created and explored modes of expression such as ephemeral art, performance art, installation art and assemblage. These techniques have since become extremely common tools in contemporary art. This is an example of a small and short-lived movement that nevertheless continues to have great relevance today. Mario Merz (1925-2003) was one of the movement’s practitioners.