Richard Serra
When Ola began in 2013, our first pattern, Wave, was inspired by the curves of Richard Serra’s sculptures and to celebrate our 10th anniversary, we have relaunched the print.
Photo: Jason Andrew/Getty Images
“Obsession is what it comes down to. It is difficult to think without obsession, and it is impossible to create something without a foundation that is rigorous, incontrovertible, and, in fact, to some degree repetitive. Repetition is the ritual of obsession. Repetition is a way to jumpstart the indecision of beginning. To persevere and to begin over and over again is to continue the obsession with work. Work comes out of work. In order to work you must already be working.'‘
— Richard Serra
Richard Serra, Inside Out, 2013
Richard Serra is a renowned artist who has created large-scale sculptures across the globe, from Iceland to New Zealand. He was born in San Francisco in 1938, and currently lives and works in New York and Long Island.
Since he was a small child, his mother encouraged him to draw. His father worked as a pipefitter in a shipyard near San Francisco. At the age of just four, Serra remembers watching a boat launch at the shipyard.
“All the raw material I required is contained in the reservoir of this recollection”
Richard Serra, Verb List, 1967-68
Serra returned to the United States in 1966 to join a circle of West Coast abstract artists, including Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, and Keith Sonnier. They aimed to explore the potential of various media. Serra experimented with rubber and neon tubing formations on walls before incorporating the horizontal floor plane into his sculptural field. He became interested in the qualities of heavy metals and is known for his lead prop pieces and steel plates. These monolithic sculptures, often hundreds of feet long and weighing several tons, focus on gravity, balance, and power, yet retain a certain beauty and simplicity.
Richard Serra. Courtesy: Stanley Felsen