Merz

This 2D relief/assemblage piece was made in response to Kurt Schwitters' work and life. There was a major exhibition at Tate Britain earlier this year. Merz means using old material to create a new work of art. Schwitters collected very ordinary used and discarded materials to make his collages and constructions. The Merzbau was his central work which he made and remade in different locations as he fled across Europe during the war. In each rebuilding it took a different form but essentially it was a structure made out of found materials. Each was incomplete on principle.

Schwitters used the letters from a text fragment in an assemblage that he had made 'Privat- und Commerzbank' to get the word Merz. He then referred to his collages and assemblages as Merz drawings and Merz pictures. He used material that was immediately to hand for his structures.

The idea of Merzbau lives on as a spacial device for architects and artists dealing with complexity.

This 2D relief 'Merz' came about when I saw a painting Schwitters made of the view out of his window when he was interred on the Isle of Man during the war. Its the window frame and artist's materials in dull wartime colours. I was really trying to imagine what it was like to continue to produce artwork in such difficult conditions.

The Schwitters exhibition at Tate Britain really revived my interest in collage and assemblage. I hope to continue making 2D reliefs and book objects using found materials.

This artwork 'Merz' is going to be exhibited at a pop up art event as part of The Elephant and the Nun Festival. For more details go to

  jaquinta-exhibits.blogspot.co.uk