Richard Serra American, 1938-2024
Overview
Elevational Weights, Vertical Mass, 2010
Richard Serra was a pioneering American sculptor known for his monumental steel works that transformed perceptions of space, gravity, and movement.
Born in San Francisco, Serra lived and worked in New York and Nova Scotia. He rose to prominence with his first major solo show at the Leo Castelli Warehouse in 1969 and went on to exhibit at leading institutions around the globe. Serra’s large-scale, site-specific sculptures remain iconic contributions to contemporary art and architecture, reshaping how we experience form and environment.
Biography
Elevational Weights, Vertical Mass, 2010
While Serra is most celebrated for his monumental steel sculptures, his works on paper are equally powerful investigations into mass, gravity, and the physical presence of material, just in a different format.
With these drawings — particularly the ones from 2010 — Serra essentially treats black like a sculptural substance. The paintstick is applied with such force and repetition that the surface becomes textured and almost topographic. It's no longer just pigment on paper; it has mass, depth, and even a kind of gravitational pull. His description of black as “heavier” isn’t metaphorical — it's an experiential claim. You feel the density when you stand in front of one of these works.
The phrase “elevational weight” is particularly poetic in this context. The slight white margin — that untouched space at the top or bottom — acts almost like a visual lever, intensifying the sense that the black form is both anchored and levitating. It evokes architecture, monumentality, and even geological strata. You’re no longer looking at the drawing; you're engaging with a kind of optical mass that asserts itself like sculpture does in space.
This series is crucial in understanding Serra’s philosophy of material and perception. It also reaffirms his belief that art is not just visual, but physical — something that activates the body and the senses.
Works
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Elevational Weights, Vertical Mass, 2010
Press
Exhibitions
