Richard Serra

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Richard Serra portrayed by Oliver Mark , Siegen 2005

Richard Serra (born November 2, 1939 in San Francisco ) is one of the most important living American sculptors . In the mid-1960s, Richard Serra and other American artists experimented with industrial materials such as lead and rubber. The materials were processed with simple interventions and related to the space. Over the years, Serra expanded its spatial approach by working with weatherproof steel to this day. In addition, his oeuvre includes a variety of paintings and prints.

Life

Fulcrum 1987, freestanding COR-TEN steel sculpture at Liverpool Street Station , London

"Basically, I want to make sculptures that stand for a new kind of experience, open up the possibilities of sculpture that have never existed before."

- Richard Serra

Study time

Serra studied English literature from 1957 to 1961 at the University of California, Berkeley and then in Santa Barbara . He did his bachelor's degree in English literature. In order to earn a living, he worked in a steelworks, where he was able to gain initial experience in dealing with the versatile material steel, which would shape his later career.

From 1961 to 1964 he completed an art degree at Yale University in New Haven . There he became an assistant to the German emigrant, painter and art theorist Josef Albers . This was followed by a collaboration with Albers on his book The Interaction of Color . He achieved a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a Master of Fine Arts degree .

When minimalism emerged during this period , there was still a pure form of minimalism; the artists mainly worked with high-quality industrial products, materials and substances such as plastic or even stainless steel. In part, the focus was on refining the material. This was followed by a generation of artists including Richard Serra, Robert Smithson , Bruce Nauman and Eva Hesse . For Serra these artists had less of the claim that art should be a commodity; it was a "ruthless extension of minimalism". The materials became simpler, like rubber or lead. Instead of depicting a formal language that already existed in art, these artists were more interested in the fact that the shape of the material could be manipulated through a change.

Early work

At the beginning of the 1960s, Serra had already dealt with film and video , which were new to art . During a one-year travel grant from Yale University in Paris in 1964, he expanded his knowledge in this field. In the summer of 1965 he married his fellow student, the artist Nancy Graves . He met the American musician and composer Philip Glass in Paris . At the end of the 1960s, Serra discovered the material metal for his artistic work. In 1968 he poured molten lead into the corners of the Whitney Museum in New York in an unconventional way, and then exhibited the preserved forms in the same house.

This was followed by a year in Florence thanks to a Fulbright grant . In May 1966 he had his first solo exhibition Animal Habitats in the Galeria La Salita in Rome. Trips to Spain and North Africa followed.

Serra moved to New York and worked with Robert Fiore , Steve Reich and Philip Glass, but also as a movers and shakers to make a living. During this time he made the acquaintance of other artists such as Eva Hesse, Donald Judd , Robert Smithson and Carl Andre . He created a number of works from rubber and neon tubes as well as so-called scatter pieces .

Since the early seventies, Richard Serra has dealt intensively with the possibilities of printmaking; In addition to the sculptures, they are an integral part of his work.

In 1968 he produced his series Hands , later he worked with Nancy Holt in Boomerang (1974) and with his partner at the time, Joan Jonas , on Paul Revere (1971), in whose performances he often participated. In 1968 Serra had a solo exhibition in the Rolf Ricke gallery in Cologne. At the end of the 1960s he tried to perfect himself with the artistic forms of film. He was looking for an analogy between the cuts in his sculptures and the cuts in films. During this time, the collaboration with Leo Castelli began .

He often visited the Anthology Film Archives in New York and dealt intensively with the artistic forms of historical and current film. He was enthusiastic u. a. also from Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls , which made his way to a filmmaker easier, and from Bruce Connors , Ron Rice 'and Jack Smith's unpretentious films.

In his early work, Richard Serra mainly worked with materials such as lead and rubber. His group of works, Splashings or Castings , is significant , in which he created shapes by hurling liquid lead into an angle between the wall and the floor.

After a stay in Japan in 1970, he dealt intensively with the geometry of the squares and the layout as a whole. The work To Encircle Base Plate Hexagram was created in Tokyo, followed in 1972 by the Spoleto Circles , a horizontal steel circle object and a circular plan set into the ground.

Late work

Terminal in Bochum , 1977, after restoration, on the day of the re-unveiling April 26, 2014

Serra's first large, accessible sculptures in public spaces, in which the perception of art is accompanied by direct physical experience, were created in the early 1970s. This includes For example, the installation Circuit , which was shown at documenta 5 in Kassel in 1972 and is now (2012) in the art collection of the Ruhr University in Bochum .

With Clara Weyergraf, whom he married in 1981, Serra shot the film Steelmill / Stahlwerk in the Henrichshütte in Hattingen.

In 1977 he designed the Terminal work for documenta 6 in Kassel , four trapezoidal panels made of weatherproof steel ( COR-TEN steel ). During this exhibition, the work was placed in front of the Fridericianum , the central exhibition building, and thus became the “landmark” of this documenta.

After long negotiations and accompanied by violent protests, Terminal was acquired by the city of Bochum in 1979 and finally installed at Richard Serra's preferred location, a traffic island at Bochum's main train station . In the state election campaign, the CDU campaigned against the line-up in Bochum. The then candidate Kurt Biedenkopf gave a speech directly in front of the sculpture in which he announced that it would be demolished.

In the same year Serra received the order for a site-specific sculpture on the “Federal Plaza” in New York as part of the “Art in Architecture Program” of the US General Services Administration . The Tilted Arc work , a 37 meter long and 3 meter high, slightly inclined steel wall that partially blocks or prevents both the view and the crossing of the square, so that people passing by have to deal with it formally and visually, was completed in 1981. Controversial discussions and protests were triggered in particular by the local population, which in 1989 led to the large steel sculpture having to be removed again.

In 1993 Serra took part in the annually changing design of the former synagogue with an object in the Stommeln synagogue.

In 2005, the extensive walk-in installation The Matter of Time was created from eight gigantic steel sculptures weighing tons for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao , consisting of walkable spirals, ellipses and snake shapes. The work is one of the largest sculptural commissions and probably also one of the most expensive that has been developed for a specific space in the history of modernism.

With the so far last work Blade Runners Serra starts a new chapter in his work. "If his plates were previously convex or concave, they now bend in opposite curves."

Awards

Collections

  • Unequal Corner Elevations , 1985, Museum DKM Duisburg (Property: Stiftung DKM, Duisburg)
  • Weitmar , 1984, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (property: DKM Foundation, Duisburg)

Work (selection)

Serra's first works were inspired by abstract expressionism . The artist became famous for his constructions made of large steel cylinders and steel blocks. Self-contained, they emphasize the weight and character of steel, the surface of which is exposed to corrosion if it is not treated.

The monumental, large sculptures, often tailored to their locations, rest in themselves and emphasize the weight, combining weight and lightness at the same time. The perception of the sculptures depends on the point of view of the beholder and changes with every step through cuts and cuts. Serra selects the locations for his works according to the dialectical principle of “blocking and opening at the same time”, a necessary precondition for bringing “new ways of seeing” closer to the viewer.

In addition to playing with changing perspectives and their perception, Serra varies the subjects of gravity and balance as physical problems of body and space. He explores the question of how bodies as bodies relate to the space that surrounds them and which they themselves create. Concepts like inside and outside, filled or empty space are questioned. Serra rejects content-related aspects and assignments of meaning to the material. In addition to many other more or less meaningful attributions, he is also considered a representative of processual art . However, his work cannot actually be grasped in terms of art historical categories.

Richard Serra participated in Documenta 5 in Kassel in 1972 in the Individual Mythologies department and was also represented as an artist at Documenta 6 (1977), Documenta 7 (1982) and Documenta 8 in 1987. In 1977, 1987 and 1997 he was a participant in the Skulptur Projekte Münster.

Terminal in Bochum

Serra's sculpture was a landmark of the documenta in Kassel and was bought in 1977 by the city of Bochum for 350,000 DM and in 1979 placed at an intersection in front of Bochum main station . It was restored in April 2014 as part of the “New Revelations” series by the RuhrKunstMuseen and inaugurated again on April 26, 2014.

Viewpoint in Dillingen / Saar

Sculpture "Viewpoint" in Dillingen / Saar

Since 1986 Serra has mainly used heavy plate from the AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke for his steel sculptures, some of which are also formed into sculptures in Dillingen. So it made sense to erect a sculpture by Serra in Dillingen as well . The roundabout at the gatehouse of the Dillinger Hütte in the direction of Saarlouis was chosen as the location , symbolizing the connection between town and hut. Viewpoint , a steel sculpture 13 meters wide, 9 meters high and 104 tons total weight, was opened to the public on March 25, 2006. It consists of six curved steel plates, three of which were joined together. Viewed from above, the steel plates form two arcs of a circle opposite one another at a slight distance, similar to an opening and a closing bracket with an accessible interior. On the night of April 30th to May 1st, 2006 (Witches' Night), jokers placed a porcelain toilet inside the sculpture. Although the location - a traffic circle - was cleaned several times a year by the municipal utilities, no one dared to remove this toilet for over half a year. The fear of destroying the supposed art arrangement was probably too great.

Axis in Bielefeld

The sculpture was set up in front of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld in 1989 . It is located there as part of the public sculpture exhibition southwest of the main entrance.

Slab for the Ruhr area in Essen

Sculpture "Slab for the Ruhr Area", 1998

In 1998 another well-known work by Serra was created with the slab for the Ruhr area on the Schurenbach dump in Essen . The slab can be seen from afar as a landmark on the top of a mine dump. It consists of a 14.5 m high, 67- tonne steel plate, which is intended to remind of the tradition of steel production in the Ruhr area as well as of the forced laborers who piled up the Schurenbachhalde during the Third Reich . The slab for the Ruhr area is very popular as an excursion destination and is one of the landmarks of the Ruhr area.

Torque in Saarbrücken

The Torque sculpture was erected in 1992 on the campus of Saarland University in Saarbrücken.

Sculpture “Exchange”, Luxembourg

Sculpture Exchange on the Kirchberg in Luxembourg

The sculpture was placed at the end of the banking district on the Kirchberg roundabout.

Promenade in Paris

From May 7th to June 15th, 2008 Richard Serra showed his specially made installation Promenade at the Grand Palais in Paris during Monumenta 2008 : “A radical sculpture landscape made of steel, minimalist and yet full of movement.” Serra is the second after Anselm Kiefer Artist invited to fill the 13,500 m² area of ​​the Grand Palais with a group of new works.

Sculptures 7 and East-West / West-East in Qatar

For the park of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha , the capital of Qatar , Serra created the sculpture 7 , which was inaugurated in 2011. The sculpture consists of seven steel plates that converge and reach a height of almost 25 meters. This first Serra sculpture, which was made in the Middle East, alludes to the special symbolic meaning of the number 7 in Islamic culture.

In the desert of Qatar, in the Brouq nature reserve (about an hour's drive from the capital Doha), Serra realized the work East-West / West-East in 2014 . This Land Art work , commissioned by the Qatar Museum Authority, consists of four monumental steel plates that are spread over a distance of one kilometer.

gallery

  • Sculptures

  • Berlin Block for Charlie Chaplin , Stahl, 1978, Berlin

  • Berlin Curves . Memorial to the victims of the T4 campaign . Steel, 1986

  • Slab (for the Ruhr area) , Halde Schurenbach , Essen

Exhibitions (selection)

literature

  • Richard Serra: The Matter of Time. Steidl, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-86521-137-2 .
  • Silke von Berswordt-Wallrabe : Richard Serra: Druckgrafik 1972-2007 , Richter, Düsseldorf, ISBN 978-3-937572-85-7 .
  • Kunibert Bering: Richard Serra. Sculpture, drawing, film. Reimer, 1998, ISBN 3-496-01188-2 .
  • Barbara Oettl: Heavy art made to measure. Observer functions for selected lead and steel sculptures in the work of Richard Serra. LIT Verlag Dr. Wilhelm Hopf, 2000, ISBN 3-8258-5027-7 .
  • Klaus-Werner Richter: Richard Serra, Props . Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg 1994. ISBN 3-89279-999-7 .
  • Eckhard Schneider (Ed.): Drawings - Work Comes Out of Work. With contributions from James Lawrence and Richard Shiff. Design: Peter Dorén. Dorén and Köster, Berlin 2008.

Web links

Commons : Richard Serra  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Examples and reception

Video

photo

interview

biography

Additional information

Gallery with works by Richard Serra

Individual evidence

  1. ^ M-Bochum art education archived copy ( memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Biography Richard Serra of the Guggenheim Collection Archived copy ( Memento of October 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ A b Maria Anna Tappeiner: Richard Serra - Seeing is thinking. West German Radio (WDR), 2005 [1]
  4. ↑ m-Bochum - art education, photographs and work description Archived copy ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ taz of July 3, 2001, p. 16, 141 Z. (TAZ report), Manfred Schneckenburger [2]
  6. ↑ GSA, Art in Architecture Program http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentType=GSA_OVERVIEW&contentId=8146&noc=T ( Memento from September 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ pbs.org, Richard Serra's Tilted Arc 1981 [3]
  8. ↑ 3sat.de, Kulturzeit, Maria Tappeiner, Steel Colossi in Bilbao - Richard Serra's walk-in installation of monumental sculptures June 8, 2005 [4]
  9. ↑ arte.tv.de, From sheet metal to sculpture - light steel by the sculptor Richard Serra, 2009, directed by Martina Müller Archived copy ( Memento from March 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ^ Member History: Richard Serra. American Philosophical Society, accessed February 8, 2019 (with biographical notes).
  11. ↑ Dissertation by Elisabeth Kenter, Hamburg 1998, The beautiful is nothing but the beginning of the terrible. ( PDF )
  12. ^ Website of the Qatar Museum on the sculpture "7" by Serra (accessed on June 23, 2016)
  13. ^ Dpa report on the Serra-Plastik "East-West / West-East", edited by "Fokus Online". Retrieved September 3, 2014 .
  14. ↑ Irene Netta, Ursula Keltz: 75 years of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau Munich . Ed .: Helmut Friede. Self-published by the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-88645-157-7 , p. 220 .
personal data
SURNAME Serra, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American minimalism artist
DATE OF BIRTH November 2, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH San Francisco , California , United States