Gillian White

Drawing Project; Week 1 Tuesday

Richard Serra

Serra is an American sculptor, draughtsman and film maker. Born in San Francisco and studied at the University of California 1957-61. Serra always carries a notebook and draws every day, it’s a way for him to think and keep a connection between his eyes and hand. 

‘Often if you want to understand something, you have either to take it apart or to apply another kind of language to it’ - Serra (The Primacy of Drawing by Deanna Petherbridge)

‘Weight and Measure’ - “The tension of the piece is based on it’s difference in elevation… The two forged blocks set up a visual field where the entire shape becomes a manifestation of sculpture. 

‘Weight and Measure’ relates closely to the installation, they both use the same type of shape but differ slightly in size, this creates an interesting relationship between the two, it brings them together to make us try and tell the difference between them. The surrounding area of the etching print creates a form of measurement; the distance from each dark shape to the edge of the paper which adds to the difference of the shapes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1K1dNsaapM

‘Matter that you sense as a physical thing’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-mBR26bAzA

In this video Serra speaks about a group of work he made. He created a list of verbs, ‘to roll’, ‘to tear’ etc. The list was to allow him to create work without thinking about how it would look in the end, he just focus on the word and created work. I think this idea and way of working really does make you act that way, if I’m given a word I don’t think about the end piece I just focus on doing that action and making sure that is being done right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRMvqOwtFno

‘Matter of Time’ Guggenheim Bilbao

Serra created an invention that creates the inner volume instead of focusing on what it will look like on the outside he focuses on the volume of the inner shapes, I feel this idea evolved from the list technique, not focusing on the final product but the action. When setting up ‘Matter of Time’ Serra considered the way people would walk around the huge installation, he wanted them to enter one and be lead into another. I found this really interesting to think about because if one was just too far away it might allow people the time to think about walking a different way than intended.

I find his drawings free, quick, bold and simple. Even though I said quick they are made on quite a larger scale and I can imagine they probably take a little longer but he seems to make a lot of drawings that are not final pieces but for planning so he does use both the old way of thinking about drawing but also has some as final pieces.