Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Serra in the Afternoon at Dia



 Richard Serra sculptures at Dia Beacon, the Nabisco factory-turned-art-temple about 90 minutes north of Manhattan


Richard Serra's rolled steel sculptures are imposing, sometimes too imposing as they enclose and dwarf the viewer with their torqued angles and narrow passageways. But in the west-facing ground-floor space at Dia Beacon, where Serra's three enormous sculptures are housed, something magical happens in the afternoon. Gridded shadows from the window frames splash the massive forms this way and that, like a scene from Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. 


Makes you want to put charcoal to paper, no?


I love the window next to the entrance of the sculpture and that line of shadow frames along the floor . . .

. . .  and the way the torqued form skews the adjacent shadow



Next up: Louise Bourgeois and Michelle Stuart, also at Dia Beacon

4 comments:

  1. yes! I have experienced this magic! The first time I was there, the passage to the inner worlds quieted me then brought tears. I could hear my breath and it was as though the center was home.

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  2. Richard Serra's rolled steel sculptures are imposing.

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