Richard Serra
American, born 1939
Person TypeIndividual
BiographyPreeminent sculptor Richard Serra earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Santa Barbara (UCSB) in English Literature before he went on to earn his Master of Fine Arts from the Yale University of Art and Architecture. While attending UCSB, he supported himself by working in a stell mill, which became the primary influence for his artistic career. Serra's art is meant to engage both the viewers as well as the settings to which it belongs; often the pieces are massive, site-specific works that can tower above and encircle audiences. In 2005, a large-scale site-specific installation of his work was permanently mounted in the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao. Although Serra is primarily known for his large-scale steel sculptures, he has also collaborated with Crown Point Press in San Francisco to produce several series of prints that translate his sensibility for weight, gravity, and curved line onto paper. His drawings were recently the subject of a travelling exhibition across the US. Most recently, in 2015, Serra was awarded rance’s highest government honor, Les Insignes de Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur. Richard Serra lives and works in New York and Nova Scotia, Canada. (From Paths and Edges exhibition, Guggenheim Gallery, August 2015)