The sheer physical presence and weight of Serra’s art was incredible. I was fortunate to view his work at the Tate way back in 1992, on a student trip to London. The flooring of the Duveen galleries had to be reinforced to support the two huge steel installations. It was all about presence. It made a lasting impression on me - I didn’t know a great deal about sculpture back then but it inspired a life-long interest. I used to live in Yorkshire, not far from the wonderful Yorkshire Sculpture Park which is home to a number of Moores and Hepworths, located in a beautiful countryside setting. Sculpture allows us to become the subject of the work, by how we engage with it and Serra really got that. BBC2’s ‘Imagine’ series did a great documentary on Serra some years’ ago, I hope they repeat it.
Like you, I was hugely impressed by Serra's art - even if I didn't like everything, I was impressed by it. I saw that piece in the Tate when I was a student. I also saw his piece on Liverpool St often. I did give me a chill. I suppose there is an aspect to the sublime about it - being in the presence of huge power... Yes, I remember those Arena and Late Show docs with great fondness. Even though the BBC is beyond saving, we still have the good stuff - when we can access it!
Yes his work was awe inspiring but it could feel quite brutal to observe. A good number of those BBC Arena documentaries are up on the IPlayer at the moment. I watched the one on Edward Hopper recently and rewatched, for the umpteenth time, the one on the Chelsea Hotel. That one just wouldn’t get made today. All those eccentric New York people are gone now, sadly.
I disagree that "the artist imposed his will." It was the state, his patron, that imposed its will. The technocrat state used this object as a kind of allegory to Emptiness and Irony as a weapon used to humiliate, dehumanize and demoralize citizens.
I have some personal connection with Serra. I met his assistants while on a trip to NYC in the early 80s. I visited his studio and saw some drawings (about 5 feet square) they were working on. They rubbed conte crayons all over the paper. I have no problem with a more successful artist hiring assistants to do the more mundane work but I do have a problem with the idea that they learn nothing themselves about technique. Serra didn't even forge his own metalwork. He just called the foundry.
Serra, in my humble opinion, is an example of the artist as impresario. Certainly, not unimportant but evern essential. His persona projected the image that his patrons wanted to see in themselves. He was an ultimate "conceptual" artist in that he knew how to flatter and massage the massive egos of powerful men, not as a servile slave but as an idealized image of "the artist." This is what the technocrat investment bankers and their rather dull, empty but wealthy careers wanted to identify with, as a kind of modern romantic alter ego. In fact, that was Serra's role: the persona of the bohemian alter ego writ large.
Thanks, Alex. I am fascinated by your description. I reviewed his prints some years ago and saw a few in person. Yes, it is definitely true he detached himself from the work in later years but benefited from the cache and machismo of his history of working in a foundry and appropriating the aura of being a steel worker.
I'm divided on whether he was in charge or his patrons (state, museum, collector). Certainly, if he had given up that way of working, another artist would have been found/made to fulfil Serra's role. You've given me food for thought, as always, Alex!
I didn't know Serra had worked in a foundry. Interesting.
Related to that I knew the sculptor (Bernard Kirschenbaum) who married Rauchenberg's ex. Susan Weil. I helped him install (gratis) a show where we hung hundreds of 7' metal rods from a prefab metal ceiling we also installed in the gallery. The rods were suspended an inch or less from the floor and were in an abstract pattern. Quite a production. He worked in some kind of metal fabrication shop at that time. I think Bob and Susan's son, Christopher, worked on it too, and I met Rauschenberg at the opening. But Kirschenbaum just didn't have the same pizzaz as Serra, I guess. Searching online you can see the monumental work in metal he was able to produce.
The sheer physical presence and weight of Serra’s art was incredible. I was fortunate to view his work at the Tate way back in 1992, on a student trip to London. The flooring of the Duveen galleries had to be reinforced to support the two huge steel installations. It was all about presence. It made a lasting impression on me - I didn’t know a great deal about sculpture back then but it inspired a life-long interest. I used to live in Yorkshire, not far from the wonderful Yorkshire Sculpture Park which is home to a number of Moores and Hepworths, located in a beautiful countryside setting. Sculpture allows us to become the subject of the work, by how we engage with it and Serra really got that. BBC2’s ‘Imagine’ series did a great documentary on Serra some years’ ago, I hope they repeat it.
Like you, I was hugely impressed by Serra's art - even if I didn't like everything, I was impressed by it. I saw that piece in the Tate when I was a student. I also saw his piece on Liverpool St often. I did give me a chill. I suppose there is an aspect to the sublime about it - being in the presence of huge power... Yes, I remember those Arena and Late Show docs with great fondness. Even though the BBC is beyond saving, we still have the good stuff - when we can access it!
Yes his work was awe inspiring but it could feel quite brutal to observe. A good number of those BBC Arena documentaries are up on the IPlayer at the moment. I watched the one on Edward Hopper recently and rewatched, for the umpteenth time, the one on the Chelsea Hotel. That one just wouldn’t get made today. All those eccentric New York people are gone now, sadly.
I disagree that "the artist imposed his will." It was the state, his patron, that imposed its will. The technocrat state used this object as a kind of allegory to Emptiness and Irony as a weapon used to humiliate, dehumanize and demoralize citizens.
I have some personal connection with Serra. I met his assistants while on a trip to NYC in the early 80s. I visited his studio and saw some drawings (about 5 feet square) they were working on. They rubbed conte crayons all over the paper. I have no problem with a more successful artist hiring assistants to do the more mundane work but I do have a problem with the idea that they learn nothing themselves about technique. Serra didn't even forge his own metalwork. He just called the foundry.
Serra, in my humble opinion, is an example of the artist as impresario. Certainly, not unimportant but evern essential. His persona projected the image that his patrons wanted to see in themselves. He was an ultimate "conceptual" artist in that he knew how to flatter and massage the massive egos of powerful men, not as a servile slave but as an idealized image of "the artist." This is what the technocrat investment bankers and their rather dull, empty but wealthy careers wanted to identify with, as a kind of modern romantic alter ego. In fact, that was Serra's role: the persona of the bohemian alter ego writ large.
Thanks, Alex. I am fascinated by your description. I reviewed his prints some years ago and saw a few in person. Yes, it is definitely true he detached himself from the work in later years but benefited from the cache and machismo of his history of working in a foundry and appropriating the aura of being a steel worker.
I'm divided on whether he was in charge or his patrons (state, museum, collector). Certainly, if he had given up that way of working, another artist would have been found/made to fulfil Serra's role. You've given me food for thought, as always, Alex!
I didn't know Serra had worked in a foundry. Interesting.
Related to that I knew the sculptor (Bernard Kirschenbaum) who married Rauchenberg's ex. Susan Weil. I helped him install (gratis) a show where we hung hundreds of 7' metal rods from a prefab metal ceiling we also installed in the gallery. The rods were suspended an inch or less from the floor and were in an abstract pattern. Quite a production. He worked in some kind of metal fabrication shop at that time. I think Bob and Susan's son, Christopher, worked on it too, and I met Rauschenberg at the opening. But Kirschenbaum just didn't have the same pizzaz as Serra, I guess. Searching online you can see the monumental work in metal he was able to produce.
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/artists/beautiful-vision-artist-susan-weil-work-life-bernard-kirschenbaum-poetry-11158/
I'll take a look. Your comments are getting better than my articles, Alex!
LOL. I doubt it.