Mark Merer undertakes projects in Architecture, Landscape and Sculpture. The studio has a team of associates ranging from Architects, Landscape Architects, Engineers and Fabricators to Environmental and horticultural specialists.
Mark Merer’s work is rooted in the elements. They range from kinetic and balletic sculptures that move with the wind, to solid grass tors hewn from the earth. He was brought up in Malaya, where he spent much time on the beach flying kites and much of his work retains a love of light and air. But just as influential, perhaps, were the hours he spent digging sand. “I like to understand the landscape,” he says, “not just by walking through it or looking at it but by splitting it open to reveal what’s underneath. I want to peel back the crust to reveal Mother Earth.”
Merer has just embarked on a new range of work investigating the nature of clay soils and how they respond to changes in the climate. “I was always fascinated by how the tides changed a beach each time it went out,” he says.
In the past he has transformed a disused coalmine in the north of England into a sublime piece of landscape complete with tors, valleys and dells and planted with sculptures. “In the past, people felt the landscape much more than they do, now,” he says. “You become very much more aware of the landscape by putting objects in it.”
Even the house in which he lives is a testament to his desire to get under the skin of Nature. Instead of a roof made of tiles or thatch, it has a wildflower meadow. “Sitting and looking at landscape is only ten percent of its pleasure - you may as well have it over the top of you,” he says.
Catherine Milner
Statement
My primary interest is in placement, I am looking for the perfect union of object and environment, and in doing so hopefully raising questions about how we perceive ourselves and our relationship to our surroundings. I have always been fascinated with the idea of bringing Arts into a more direct involvement into every day life.
A project with 2 quantum physicists had a large influence on me and altered my perception of space; it gave weight to my feelings of the total or whole, the interconnectivity of the physical world. Consequently I see no boundaries between any 3dimensional construct and spend my time observing land use, ourselves, construction and development that sometimes seems to be unaware they are part of a symphony. This universal tune for me is a conduit that enables us to see the physical world in more than scientific truths. In this sense the aim is to bring acuity of focus to anything and everything I do.
