One of the preeminent sculptors of our era, Richard Serra (American, b. 1938) 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. This exhibition presents the artist’s forty-year career, from his early experiments with materials such as rubber, neon, and lead to monumental late-career pieces, including Intersection II (1992) and Torqued Ellipse IV (1999), along with three new works that have never been exhibited before. With works on view throughout the Museum and in The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years displays the extraordinary vision of this formidable artist, who has radicalized and extended the definition of sculpture. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition.
The exhibition is organized by Kynaston McShine, Chief Curator at Large, The Museum of Modern Art, and Lynne Cooke, Curator, Dia Art Foundation.
