Richard Serra: Forged in Steel

Published on the occasion of Serra’s exhibition Equal at David Zwirner, New York–called one of “the year’s best shows” by The New York Times—this catalogue is the first in-depth overview of the artist’s works in forged steel. Widely regarded as one of the most influential artists working today, Richard Serra is known in particular for his large steel sculptural forms, which deal primarily with investigations of weight, balance, density, and scale, as well as their effect on the viewer and his/her sense of space. Serra’s relentless pursuit of these questions over the course of his celebrated career has deepened our understanding of the effects of sculpture on space and perception, and broadened the scope of what we allow the genre to address. While Serra had already become known for his works in vulcanized rubber, lead, and steel, Serra first began using forged steel after encountering a large-scale forge at a steel mill in Germany in 1977. Unlike casting, wherein steel is heated until