Weights and Measures

Capturing the raw, muscular energy required to work with lead and steel, Richard Serra began utilizing these materials in the late 1960s to explore the fundamental properties of sculptural tension. In 1968 he created his first “props,” consisting of plates and tubes, which fall into one of four categories—wall, corner, freestanding, or post-and-lintel. These sculptures entail a stable but unnerving performance of balance. A wall prop made of steel, Weights and Measures is not only visually striking but also physically imposing, experienced as much through the viewer’s sense of his or her own body as through vision. This work is a monumental form created from dense sheets that are not welded or joined; the result is a disquieting, even aggressive sculptural experience. Physical proximity and the sense of precariously balanced weight create a remarkably immediate relationship between space, object, and viewer.