Richard Serra

After the kitsch blog, I would like to change to a minimalist sculptor Richard Serra. He was known for both his early and later works. In his early works he did installations, melt crayon like substance to form blocks, performance or video art with molten lead and document subjects about steel.
 He would throw huge amounts of molten lead against the wall or floor as installation pieces. To viewers, his works were similar to Jackson Pollock. Both had an abstract quality and both artist wanted to be closer or understand their medium. Pollock action painting (I believed) helped influence Serra to do a similar technique with throwing and splashing the lead onto the surface except Pollock still used a canvas on the floor. Also I don't know if Serra used Pollock drip method using the brush to splash and drip into the canvas or adding glass and other medium to the canvas. In his performance work, Serra filmed himself attempting to catch the molten lead. The lead appears raw and his one hand trying to grab the lead has a tense repetitive movement. He describes it as engaging the material in an aggressive manner. In current times, I'm amazed he was working with lead a heavy metal very similar to mercury and is also a neurotoxin. I'm don't think he knew what he was aqainting himself with as a medium for his artworks or maybe he did adding to the anxiety of the viewer, but I'm glad he moved on to steel.

Matter of Time, Guggenheim Museum  Bilbao, Spain 2005

His use of steel is amazing with its curvelinear rigid structures. Serra with the help of other metal workers create self supporting  steel walls or planes and make it look organic or geometric. The installation Torqued Ellipse VI and The Matter of Time has the organic qualities because of it curvature but it's amazing because they are tall installations pieces about 13 feet in height and spans a large room in the Guggenhein Museum. It defies the viewers expectations because its a rigid metal and its weight is obvious. He wants the viewer to search through his installations and it various forms. His works are site specific which add to the quality of the work like the larger room in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao for his Matter of Time collection. It enhances the beauty of the room.  Another work adds loneliness to the piece like the Bramme in Essen, Germany. Its a long piece of steel placed vertically surrounded by a dark rocky ground. It has a natural rustic color that enhances it form especially in a blue sky.

Bramme monument for the Ruhr Area on top of the Halde Schurenbach in Essen, Germany 2007

His pieces does receive controversy because of the site location. Tilted Arc is a famous example of citizens not wanting a large piece of steel obstructive their passage to a building. His installation are very large and are assembled in a way that might be dangerous for the viewer because its thin steel it can provoke anxiety because of balancing a heavy structure. It depends on the beholder. I like his pieces big and assembled into different awckward positions.