Kurt Schwitters (1887 – 1948) was a German artist who worked in several art forms and media, including Dadaism, Surrealism, poetry, sound, painting and collage. Though not a direct participant in Dada activities, he employed Dada ideas in his art, such as his Merz works — art pieces built up of found objects; some were very small, some took the form of large constructions, or what would later in the 20th century be called installations. Schwitters subverted accepted concepts of art of his day using the medium of collage. He cruised the streets of Hanover scouring for discarded junk, like bus-tickets, buttons, and shreds of paper. He then assembled this refuse into compositions that he called “Merz.” The examples of Schwitter’s work shown above demonstrate his use of text.
very cool, john.