Richard Serra @ Gagosian, Size doesn't Matter!

Chelsea Gallery Walk.. Part I.
The New Richard Serra show, "Rolled and Forged" at Gagosian Gallery, NYC, Chelsea...it's on view till Aug 11th.

First off.. here's a few pictures.
This first photo is of "Elevations, Repetitions, 2006"
Lets just say.. it's big, very big.. like,
It fills a room the size of a football field..

The second photo is of "Equal Weights and Measures, 2006"
Probably the most impressive and moving work in the show.

Here's a detail shot of, "Elevational Mass, 2006"

Trust me.. This work is more thought provoking close up. The random mix of blues & rusts are actually beautiful.

OK, One last photo, this is one prospective of "Elevations, Repetitions, 2006... " Maybe it would look a bit more interesting at a lower or a different angle....  No?

There are 2 other huge works in the show, each presented in their own football field sized room...but both are too boring to even bother posting photographs.

So.. after reading all the reviews... you'd expect something great from Richard Serra..??
No?? Because you can't help but be a fan of Richard Serra after seeing his works at the Dia Beacon, right?  Like Wow! Now, No Joke, Those works at Dia, "Torqued Ellipses," are perhaps the greatest sculptures of the 20th Century.   In fact, They are not to be missed if you ever find yourself anywhere near Beacon, NY this summer.

But, this new show at Gagosian... Yikes! It is such a big disappointment.. and as with Serra, the emphasis is on the BIG!

Well..The show is worth checking out.. even though there's nothing new or original here..
After all.. in the Art World, you only get to see failure on such a large scale every once in a few years... so.. like.. When is the next Christo event?

Well..  OK.. with the G.W. Bush Administration...we see failure, maybe once every few days! But that's not in the art world..thank god!

OK.. and as always with any over hyped Gagosian show.. there was lots of puffy, fluffy, bribed press to gush foolishly over the show... Like, does anyone, ever have anything critical to say anymore??

• David Spiher at Gay City News
• Joao Ribas of the New York Sun
• Roberta Smith of The New York Times
• Viola Salzedo-Gramm of New York Press
• Yet another One at : NYC.com
• Another by Joe Beres at Off Center from the Walker
• Walter Robinson at Artnet.com

More Chelsea Gallery Walk to come..

Comments

[Kenny T]

With all your photography collecting, you'd think you'd have learned how to take a simple snapshot by now.... DC is getting woozy looking at these shots (Hey, I have to blame his "wooziness" on something external).

[Craig K--]

you complain about the inarticulate and enthusiastic press, but you use the word "interesting" as if it has some real meaning. Is Interesting good or bad? That is what folks say when they don't have any other adjectives at their disposal.

[Mike @ MAO]

KennyT..
While I'm sure DC's regular Sat Morning eyes might be a little fuzzy!
These pic's are not clear.. I use this tiny Sony camera.. which is cute and small, but all too often a total blur. It's impossible to keep stable.

Thanks for reading and commenting Craig K..

I never said the press was inarticulate.. just not critical... and possibly strangely biased to rave about anything Gagosian!

Most of the time I use the word "Interesting" sarcasticly, as a sub for dull, boring, not original, etc.. but, I've got plenty of other adjectives!! "interesting," I find to be more amusing, which leaves it to the reader to decide.

But thanks for pointing it out.. I'll be sure to be more careful when I use the word "interesting".

[jeff turner]

Hi, Although this work seems to be the norm for today, you know, minimalist, sophisticated and cool (whatever that means), I find it inane and boring. Sculpture used to be about shape, form, light, shadow and feeling. That's what made it exciting to look at (see Smith's "Cubi" pieces). There is still plenty left to explore in that vein of sculpture. Minimalism on the other hand is a dead end just like Pollocks drip paintings. Where do you go from there?

[mark]

I agree with your sense of the beauty here. The massive scale and weight of this work was also a little scary. For all the calm structure of the gallery the work made me feel something catastrophic was about to happen; let alone the floor collapsing.

[lisa hunter]

Don't worry about your photography skills, Mike. Serra's work never looks like anything when you see it in a three-inch-tall photograph. The massiveness of the work is key to its power. I'd always been ho-hum about his art (maybe I'd even mocked him a few times when I passed some rusted out metal junk along the highway). Then I saw the Torqued Ellipses at Dia Beacon last summer. Wow!

[James]

Did you see the Alex Katz show at Pace Wildenstein?