Weight and Measure: Reading Questions

1. What were Richard Serra's goals for the installation?

He wanted it "to be understood as volumes in relationship to the volume of the space." However; he did not want to "impose a formal composition on the hall, isolating the installation from the conditions of the place." He thought that the work would be successful if it could "collect the scale of the space no matter what the light conditions."

2. Define the field Serra is referring to when he states that his sculptural elements need to create "enough tension within the field to hold the experience of presence in the place". How do you define "experience of presence"?

The field that he is referring to is the relationship of the object to the space around it. The field is altered/affected/manipulated by objects within the field's given volume.

3. How do the columns, pedestal condition, octagonal space and vertical axis challenge Serra?

Serra had difficulty with the columns because they have an "enormous sculptural presence" of its own. They cause you to "acknowledge the vertical scale of the room" which draws attention to the volume of the space, rather than the objects that lie within it. The pedestal condition was seen by Serra in the form of the center octagon. Its shape gives "vertical rise" which places the sculpture on a "pedestal".

4. What is effective in terms of the shape, scale and number of the two square elements in the Duveen Galleries?

"It is very absolute to forge a cube."

Serra felt that the form of the square and the cube were definite, simple, beautiful and most of all absolute. "Curves carve discrete spaces out of the volume that already existed."

5. Describe the differences and similarities between Barnett Newman's and Richard Serra's work.

Similarities: Both artists are very conscious of the way that orientation in space affects the experience of the piece, both put great emphasis on axes and planes. 

Diferences: Richard Serra's work rarely, if ever alludes to an external reference. It lacks the borrowed themes and allusions present in much of Newman's work. The ways in which the axes and planes are used by both men is interesting. Newman utilizes the bilateral relationships to convey contrast while Serra likes to show a harmonious relationship between vertical and horizontal axes.