Serra, Richard

One of the preeminent sculptors of our era, Richard Serra (American, b. 1939) has long been acclaimed for his challenging and innovative work, which emphasizes materiality and an engagement between the viewer, the site, and the work. In the early 1960s, Serra and the Minimalist artists of his generation turned to unconventional, industrial materials and began to accentuate the physical properties of their art. Over the years, Serra has expanded his spatial and temporal approach to sculpture and has focused primarily on large-scale work, including many site-specific works that engage with a particular architectural, urban, or landscape setting.

Acclaimed for his challenging and innovative works emphasizing materially and an engagement between the viewer, the site, and the sculpture, Serra has come to focus primarily on large scale pieces, including many site-specific works that engage with a particular architectural, urban, or landscape setting. In the handling of heavy metal, Serra has no peer. His towering curves and sheets of oxidized steel are now an artistic signature, and critics view his massive steel plate sculptures as some of the defining works of our time. His spectacular show Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty years at New York’s Museum of Modern Art was selected by Time Magazine as the top museum exhibit of 2007, and described as the “the art world thriller of the year.” Hailed as one of the world’s greatest living sculptors, Richard Serra is indeed one of the major artists of our time.