Gerhard Merz

From Forty Are Better Than One
8-part leporello, digital pigment print (Ditone) on 230g card stock, 32 x 200 cm (12½ x 78¾ in). Edition: 75, signed and numbered.

This edition refers to an installation by Gerhard Merz, which consists of a row of Lumilux 11 fluorescent tubes above a monochrome stripe painting in cold gray.

EUR 800

Two-part painting with acrylic and pigment paint on aluminium, each 50 x 40 x 3 cm (19¾ x 15¾ x 1 in). 
Edition of 30 unique double paintings, each signed and numbered on verso. 

For this edition, which has the characteristics of a unique artwork, Gerhard Merz juxtaposed two monochromes whose thick, pastose application of paint reinforces the idea of painting. A relief emerges, defined by the spontaneous brushstroke, structured differently on each metal plate. The “orange” is red lead, and the “green” is Scheele’s Green.

Set EUR 3,000

Wall object, masonite, painted grey, 204 x 54 x 2 cm (80¼ x 21¼ x ¾ in). Edition of 10.

For this edition, Gerhard Merz has designed an oversized T-square. This iconic tool of architects functions here as a symbol of architecture and design, referencing Gerhard Merz's idea that, as a painter, he is also an architect.

From Wall Works
Fluorescent light fixtures, daylight white, 46 or 60 cm (18 or 24 in), installed as a frieze along the full length of the wall. Limited to 6 installations, with a signed and numbered certificate.

Gerhard Merz has always strived to continue and refine modernism. Light – the invention of the light bulb – marked a shift from 'darkness' to brightness and enlightenment. For Merz, color, light, and proportion are the essential elements of art.

From Wall Works
Wall painting in cobalt green or ivory black pigment, polished stainless-steel bar. Wall painting 150 cm (59 in) high, width according to the wall; stainless steel 250 x 10 x 10 cm (98½ x 4 x 4 in). Limited to 6 installations, with a signed and numbered certificate.

This edition by Gerhard Merz is a wall installation featuring a minimalist composition defined by stark geometry and precise spatial balance. A broad, dark, horizontal band is painted across the wall, asserting itself as a dominant visual field. At its center, a polished stainless-steel bar vertically bisects the composition, creating a striking contrast between materiality and surface. The reflective quality of the steel introduces subtle interaction with the surrounding space and viewer, reinforcing Merz’s ongoing engagement with architecture, light, and proportion. The work embodies his vision of merging painting with architectural thought, where clarity and austerity become expressive tools.

Anodized aluminum, in two parts. Square piece, 90 x 90 x 6 cm (35½ x 35½ x 2½ in), anodized in color (red, blue or black). Solid, polished aluminum bar, 180 x 6 x 6 cm (71 x 2½ x 2½ in). Edition of 5 per color, signed and numbered on certificate. 

With this edition, too, Gerhard Merz makes a direct reference to architecture and the tools of the architect.

Four lithographs and one offset print on Invercote 300g rag paper, as well as one monochromatic painting on Fabriano 220g rag paper; each 56 x 80 cm. Edition: 45 + X, each signed and numbered on verso.

This edition portfolio was published on the occasion of Gerhard Merz' eponymous exhibition Den Menschen der Zukunft (To the People of the Future) at Kunstverein Hannover, July-September 1990. Each print is based on a work from the exhibition. 

Set of 3 aquatints, 1 heliogravure and 1 offset print, on rag paper, each print 108 x 81 cm (42½ x 32 in), each signed and numbered. Edition of 12 in red as illustrated (plus 30 in caput mortuum and 30 in veronese).

Like several of Gerhard Merz's works, this edition also makes reference to architecture. Merz has repeatedly explored the idea that, as a painter, he is also an architect. The title of this work – “ed io anche son architetto” (Italian: “I too am an architect”) – is a reversal of a quote by the French neoclassical architect Étienne-Louis Boullée: “ed io anche son pittore” (Italian: “I too am a painter”).

Set from edition of 12: EUR 4,500 / Set from edition of 30: EUR 3,500

Three silkscreens on copperplate printing paper, with punched holes, and one hand-painted gouache on rag paper. 76 x 56 cm. Edition: 30, with silkscreens in colors illustrated + XX with silkscreens in additional colors; each signed and numbered on verso.

This early work by Gerhard Merz is a four-part edition created in conjunction with his exhibition of the same name at the Lenbachhaus in Munich. Both in content and in title, the works reference Gualtiero Jacopetti’s 1962 film of the same name, which – with its often shocking images of foreign cultures – founded its own genre: the mondo films. Merz takes up this theme by presenting portraits that resemble ethnographic depictions of foreign cultures. The figures shown appear to be from another, "exotic" world – marked by symbols, traditions, and rituals that seem alien to the Western gaze. The fourth sheet in this edition, a monochrome gouache painted in blue, contrasts with these images both formally and thematically. It can be interpreted as a symbol of Western modernity – a counter-image to the diversity of the others, though not without ambiguity or meaning.

EUR 3,000

Four silkscreens on Rives BFK rag paper, 81 x 122 cm, three of them printed on hand-painted surfaces by the artist at Siebdruck Roscher, Munich. Edition: 30, each signed and numbered, some on front, some on verso; (+ 3 A.P., signed not numbered; + VI trial proofs, partly with color variations, some images reversed).