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By Graham Shearing
Richard Serra's "Carnegie" (1984-85) is, with
Louise Bourgeois' fountain (1999) in Donwtown's Katz Plaza, one of the two
great modern sculptures in the city of Pittsburgh. Consisting of four massive
sheets of Cor-Ten steel balanced against each other, it blocks the entrance
to the Museum of Art at the Carnegie and is a radical intervention in the
space planned by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes and landscape designer Dan
Kiley. Its effect is deliberately unsettling and inconvenient. Contrast it
with the earlier bronze statue by Henry Moore, only a few yards away on its
neat granite plinth, conforming to the historic traditions of public sculpture.
It was Serra who argued against the tyranny of the plinth, sitting his work
resolutely on the ground.
Later work by Serra, the "Tilted Arc" and the
"Torqued Ellipses," employ more complex forms in steel, moving
from
simple, if massive, curves to sophisticated and fluid imaginings realized
by the use of computer software. These last sculptures, recently seen in
New
York, Los Angeles and Bilbao, vie with visionary architecture. Serra himself
has said, "I think sculpture, if it has any potential at all, has the
potential to create its own space, and to work in contradiction to the places
and spaces where it is created. I am interested in work where the artist
is
a maker of 'anti-environment' which takes its own place, or makes its own
situation, divides or declares its own areas."
It is important to have some idea of Serra's sculptural work and its implications
before you enter Michael Berger's new gallery on Walnut Street in Shadyside
(a street more devoted to consumerism than art). But what you will find there,
11 large etchings by the artist, although informed by the sculpture, are essentially
distinct from it. These prints have the sense and effect of the massive and
distill the experience of his sculpture without particularly resembling them.
They ought to be thought of in terms of drawing (in its widest
sense). In a note at the gallery the process is described: "To create
the richly textured surface of these new etchings, Serra worked the surface
of the copper plate by building up layer upon layer of Paintstick and/or
lithographic crayon. As determined at random by the artist, Serra would either
pour the molten material or rub the solid material onto a plate flat on the
floor of the studio, thus permitting him to press the material through an
aluminum screen, often using his feet. His completed drawings on the copper
plate had a very sculptural physicality, with some high points as thick as ¾-inch.
This translates to the prints in their richly textured surface."
Serra calls these etchings, which are black on white
paper, "one-color," an attempt to avoid implications that the
idea of black might convey. A fair point. The experience of these surfaces
(a special treatment allows them to be seen without glass) is absorbing
and sensual. Seen close-up (which is how the prints work best) the optical
distortion parallels the experience of moving inside and around the sculpture,
and the pitted black of the etched surface seems to evoke the impassive
surface of weighty steel.
The forms and structures depicted all explore the same issues
of weight and balance. Plate tone and contrasts of black and white (beloved
of print collectors) are projected into the contemporary context. It is a moving
experience.
Serra has titled these prints with the names of jazz musicians (Bo Diddley, Bessie
Smith) and other references. Yet he denies that the titles mean much; simply
they efficiently identify the works, rather than the monotonous "Untitled" in
common use in contemporary art. Are we to believe him absolutely?
Berger's gallery, on the second floor of the Mineo Building,
is an exciting project. It is a nonprofit gallery operating under the auspices
of the Michael and Sherle Berger Foundation and aims to bring works of
international importance to Pittsburgh, and hopefully, within the reach
of local collectors. That's a great aim. Berger has, over the years, been
responsible for bringing much art to the city, sometimes operating out
of a private gallery in his house, sometimes taking more public spaces.
The best dealers are enthusiasts, and Berger is a collector as well. In
all, a good sign for arts in the city.
Pittsburgh
Tribune Review Art Section
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