Busy bees

Mario Merz Lingotto 1968 (brush-wood, beeswax and steel)

I didn't have much time at Tate Modern yesterday, but I did manage a quick whizz round the Energy and Process section. It's good just to be an art tourist sometimes: to switch off the intellect, enjoy what's presented and see what stays with you. This piece by Mario Merz - which seems part fairytale, part celebration of the virtues of honest labour - is the one that's stuck. A block of beeswax sits on a welded steel frame, backed by neat bundles of twigs used for sweeping. Lingotto is Italian for  'ingot' (as in gold) but is also a district of the artist's home city of Turin, famous for its Fiat factory.

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/CollectionDisplays?venueid=2&showid=2338