Steidlville

This book documents a recent exhibition of Richard Serra’s work at the Gagosian Gallery, New York. The show was comprised of four distinct works linked by a common theme – each is based on the relationship between the viewer and a horizontal or planar elevation on eye level. Elevations, Repetitions is a complex of 16 elements of different heights which defines the viewer’s movements through the gallery space and the relationship between these different elevations. Equal Weights and Measures is composed of six equal blocks of forged steel, which are rotated to achieve a condition that makes it difficult to ascertain their sameness. Round is a forged steel work with a diameter of 84" and a weight of 50 tons. In order that it could be seen from above eye level and below, it was set on a slope in the smallest room of the gallery. No Relief is a room installation which consists of two 60 foot long, six inch thick horizontal slabs flush to the wall on opposite sides of a narrow room. One is six foot high, the other four foot, nine inches. They compress the elongated space into a continuum that is slightly destabilizing due to the shift in elevations.