David Zwirner held this exhibition of six drawings by Richard Serra which I managed to catch just before it closed.
“My whole drawing practice is involved with repetition, knowing there’s no possibility of repeating, knowing that it’s going to yield something different every time.”
—Richard Serra in Conversations About Sculpture, 2018
Pigment is mashed up with oil paint sticks, layered and pressed onto handmade Japanese paper to produce a thick surface that resembles cooled lava rock. I never knew paper could take this amount of weight – it’s incredibly strong.
Then the whole thing is stapled to a solid base before hanging.
Intense effort and energy must have been required in the making of these, now held in silent stillness.
Standing in front of these drawings is a powerful visceral experience. It is also very calm and grounding.
