Mario Merz started drawing in prison after his arrest for anti-fascist activities in 1945. His first solo exhibition at Turin’s Galleria La Bussola in 1954 featured canvases inspired by Art Informel and Abstract Expressionism. This was followed in the mid-1960s by volumetric paintings, which in turn gave way to three-dimensional structures by the end of the decade. By that time Merz was one of the leading figures of Arte Povera, a movement characterized by the use of commonplace and so-called ‘poor’ materials and products, either organic or manufactured.