This publication focuses on the early work of Richard Serra, one of the most influential artists working today. The works included in this volume represent the beginning of the artist's innovative, process-oriented experiments with nontraditional materials, such as vulcanized rubber, neon and lead, in addition to key early examples of his work in steel and a selection of the artist's films from this period. The interplay of gravity and material that was introduced early in Serra's career set the stage for his ongoing engagement with the spatial and temporal properties of sculpture. This monograph aims to reconsider the groundbreaking practices and ideas that so firmly situate Serra in the history of twentieth-century art. The publication includes new scholarship by Hal Foster, in addition to archival texts and photographs from the years 1966 to 1972.
Richard Serra was born in San Francisco in 1938. His first solo exhibitions were held at the Galleria La Salita, Rome, in 1966, and, in the United States, at the Leo Castelli Warehouse, New York, in 1969. His first solo museum exhibition was held at The Pasadena Art Museum in 1970; subsequent solo museum shows have been held at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1977; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1986; Dia Center for the Arts, New York, 1997; and the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, 2003. In 2005, eight large-scale works by Serra were installed permanently at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and in 2007 The Museum of Modern Art, New York presented a retrospective of the artist's work. A traveling survey of Serra's drawings was on view in 2011-12 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Menil Collection, Houston.