"I consider space to be a material. The articulation of space has come to take precedence over other concerns."
Richard Serra (b. 1938, San Francisco, California; d. 2024, Orient, New York) received his MFA from Yale University and emerged in the 1960s as part of a group of West Coast abstract artists deeply engaged with material experimentation. Early in his career, he worked with unconventional media (rubber, neon tubing, and molten lead) laying the groundwork for what would become his signature approach to sculpture: monumental, site-specific works that radically transform space and alter the viewer’s perception of it.
Serra’s large-scale sculptures are known for their immense presence and capacity to shift how one navigates and experiences space by emphasizing weight, balance, and spatial tension. Though widely celebrated as a sculptor, since the early 1970s, Serra produced a significant collection of drawings. They serve, not as preparatory sketches, but as responses to his completed sculptures. Using ink, charcoal, lithographic crayon, and black oil paintstick, Serra created dense, textured surfaces: his drawings showcase his interest in the physical properties of his materials. They echo the intensity of his monolithic sculptures.
Serra’s impact on contemporary art has been recognized globally. Major retrospectives of his work have been held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1986, 2007). He participated in Documenta (1972, 1977, 1982, 1987) and the Venice Biennale (1980, 1984, 2001, 2013). In 2015, he was awarded Les Insignes de Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur by the French government.