The body of work of Richard Serra, an American artist, concern purely human beings’ relationship with the environment, as well as their experience in various spaces. His large-scale steel sculptures are plain and simple yet infinite in their variety. Various shapes are being placed in a variety of locations, forming different experiences. Serra once mentioned that he is a sculptor who is interested in the invention of form. His sculptures are not limited to those large-scale ones in steel found in public locations. There are also those in the form of paintings which resemble both sculptures and drawings.
Boasting physical properties, sculptures are more than simply three-dimensional. objects Many of them boast forms that have a close relationship with the creation process. The paintings of Serra are also rich in physical qualities, and the process of creating them are inseparable with their final form. He will take two pieces of hand-made paper with varying grain, patterns and weight, put graphite paint between the two, and use the human body and different objects to apply pressure on the paper. As a result, the texture and pattern of the graphite paint will create various shapes. In a distance, it looks like a painting while up close it looks like a sculpture on paper. Serra’s large-scale steel sculptures have the flavors of heavy industry. Thus, various public spaces or natural circumstances, such as weather, humidity as well as viewers’ footprints, will unintentionally leave traces on the sculptures. However, in Serra’s paintings, the pressed patterns of graphite paint on the paper are formed by his deliberately applying various forms of pressure to it.
All of Serra’s drawings are abstract, but those traces that record the pressure left by the body and objects allow spectators to understand something in the abstract, a condition difficult to express as if something were tangled. If we reflect on our life and existence, this kind of condition actually is neither abstract nor unfamiliar. Without using a paint brush, Serra makes use of various media to change the texture, thickness and physical properties of the paint, thereby creating and presenting another space between the drawing paper and the viewers so that reflections and echos can form from within. Serra once said that art has no use, and is purely shape and form. However, the two conditions, being deliberate and unintentional, seemingly echo with human existence. Without the use of a simple form, viewers are aroused to reflect. Given it is thought-provoking, it is not totally useless.