Too many Serra sculptures are just sort of treated as plop art, but if you see his stuff at Storm King or Dia Beacon or the site-specific installations, it makes a lot more sense.
[1] https://alltheartiveeverseen.wordpress.com/2013/10/12/serra-...
No, sorry. It just doesn't work for me. Tastes differ, I guess.
I found most of his works to be typical of "put something big in a gallery and it looks amazing". Also, I feel annoyed by people who claim so much space. Not to say that his work is bad or useless -- I just don't like it.
Perhaps if I read more about his intentions I might change my mind. But the appreciation sure isn't immediate for me.
Re Serra, one of the problems I have with it is that displaying a gigantic work in the confines of a gallery just feels, well, confining. You already know the boundaries of the space because you can see the walls, the ceiling, the giftshop, etc.
If the aim is to induce a sense of awe, or perhaps unease, at the mass of the work, or its size, rather like you might feel at an old site like Stonehenge, that effect is lost in the gallery.
In fact there is a general problem with how we display art that is not easily soluble. Much of what is in museums and galleries today was created and sold for a single buyer/viewer. Such works reward close inspection over many years by the owner. Maybe one year you see something you never saw before. That effect is totally lost in a gallery.
There are literally no comments in this thread which are negative.
I have no idea why those who control the art world feel the need to present themselves as marginalized.
Also, props to Serra for doing some “art” stuff for Qatar in the 2010s, the money was probably very good (which brings me to my above point).
But I get this guy’s appeal and I also get why his audience wouldn’t want to see it that way, it is what is, nothing that the two of us can do about it other than trying to talk over an over-increasing socio-economic wall.