As a child, Richard Serra could watch the ships in San Francisco Bay from his window. The fascination for water and huge steel structures never left him. With his sometimes monstrous works, Serra became one of the most important and successful sculptors in the world and, like many other well-known artists, he also managed to offend people. The draft of his Holocaust memorial in Berlin caused controversial discussion.
The artist repeatedly emphasized that the popularity of his works meant nothing to him. “I don’t believe that art’s job is to please.” Serra died on Tuesday at the age of 85 in upstate New York, his lawyer John Silberman confirmed. According to consistent media reports, he is said to have succumbed to pneumonia.
Most of Serra’s works are large and weigh several tons, which is why he often used steel as a material and had his sculptures made in Germany. He has created works for more than 100 public places, from Philadelphia and St. Louis to São Paulo to Bochum and Kassel. However, he withdrew his design for the Holocaust memorial in Berlin amidst a dispute. The basic idea of a sea of steles comes from him. But when his design was changed, Serra withdrew it “for personal and artistic reasons.” Another sculpture in New York was dismantled after strong protests. Serra was as “steely and uncompromising as his works,” wrote the British Guardian once. The prestigious Guggenheim Museum in New York honored Serra’s work, saying on Tuesday that his “monumental works have changed our perception of space and form.”
Serra most recently lived and worked in New York, Long Island and Nova Scotia, Canada. He was born on November 2, 1938 in San Francisco. His father worked in a shipyard for several years, which is probably where the foundation for Serra’s creativity was laid. “It was a lively environment,” the artist once recalled. “I grew up poor, but the atmosphere was rich.”
Serra studied English literature at the University of California at Santa Barbara and at the elite Yale University. He then went to New York, where he met other artists such as Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and Jasper Johns and soon began experimenting with lead and steel. Serra’s sculptures became larger and heavier and eventually the steel began to curve.
With great effect, as Serra later recounted: “People reacted to the curves in a way they had never reacted to corners and straight lines before. They had never seen that before. People were ready for curves.” As a result, more and more galleries and renowned museums cleared huge spaces for Serra. The artist painted every now and then, but even then he mostly remained monochrome. “I’m working on a pink painting,” Serra once said New York Times. “It’s in my closet. Or green and purple. I was also considering a light yellow-green for a week.” Was he serious? You never really knew that at Serra.