The Richard Serra exhibit at MoMA runs through September 10th, 2007. It’s spectacular. Since it’s already been thoroughly reviewed in the NYTimes, the New Yorker, Slate, etc. I won’t compete by adding mine. But here are a few impressions from the show.
MASS
These pieces are massive! Awe inspiring. They inspire many questions like how were they made? How were they carried to the museum? Installed? Are they dangerous? And how the heck can the museum’s floor sustain all that weight? Not many answers to be found in the museum’s literature. But a cashier in the bookstore tipped me off to a YouTube video of the installation you may find interesting. Curiously, first hand accounts were hard to come by. None of the museum’s staff we spoke with were around on installation day.
THE PASSING OF TIME
Like a film or a piece of music, these pieces require the passing of time in order to be perceived. The larger pieces are simply too large to take in from a single angle. You literally need to walk around or through them to understand them. Even then, they kind of bend the mind. More like landscapes than any other sculpture I’ve seen.
MANUFACTURED AGE
Serra’s rusted steel reminds me of a genre of painting that’s been popular here in Boulder for the last five years or so. Very much about surface and texture. Manufactured age.
BIRD POO
The bird poo on Torqued Ellipse IV in the Sculpture Garden made me laugh. I wish I could have viewed everything outside. Serra’s massive new works on the second floor seemed constrained by the space. I wanted blue sky overhead. A picnic. And distance to view them from.
LOVE
Minimalism. Yum.
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