Image Overview > 17 of 20

Born in San Francisco, California, in 1939, Richard Serra now lives in New York. Serra works with heavy materials such as steel, lead, and concrete, which he forms into large sculptures for outdoor and indoor spaces. He has also been a printmaker since the 1970s.

• What does this look like to you? Why?

Size It Up
As the title suggests, this sculpture actually weighs one ton, each slab weighs 500 pounds, making the sum of the four slabs 2,000 pounds. Only the laws of physics hold this piece together; the slabs are propped up against one another in a very specific way. Like a "house of cards," if one of the slabs slips, the entire sculpture will fall. Every time this piece is exhibited at the MoMA, the Museum staff must carefully reassemble the piece.

• Does it surprise you to learn how this sculpture is made? Why or why not?

One Ton Prop (House of Cards) is actually much smaller than other indoor and outdoor sculptures Serra has made. Serra is primarily concerned with many aspects of weight such as the "balancing of weight, the diminishing of weight, the addition and subtraction of weight, the concentration of weight,…the propping of weight,  the movement of weight…the shape of weight.…" ¹

• Would you think differently of this sculpture if it were made out of foam instead of lead and weighed very little? Why or why not?

• What do you think about the fact that this sculpture has two titles, One Ton Prop and House of Cards? Do you prefer one or the other? Why or why not?

1. Richard Serra, New York, 1988.