I thought I would share a recent unexpected perk of my new job with all of
you. Shortly before the Richard Serra show opened at MoMA, a colleague
called me and asked if I would mind walking through one of the artist's brand
new works for a few hours. The museum wanted archival video footage since
still photos don't capture his new work well. Needless to say, I said yes
without any cajoling, although I immediately regretted my poor sock choice--
gray with artichokes (no joke--I wear them once a year). I called a
friend of mine who is writing her dissertation on Serra and she hurled herself into a cab and joined me. I quickly and as discretely as possible took off my socks, stuffed them under a chair marked "Richard Serra" and prayed he wouldn't arrive during filming and wonder what he was doing with a pair of woman's socks.

Although I have always admired Serra's work, I was surprised by just
how exhilarating it felt to walk through Sequence (the name of the new
work). The syntax is still the same--massive bent and curved plates of
steel, but the new work feels more baroque and involves more complex
movement than any of his early work does. Here, the chocolate colored
serpentine walls form corridors and passageways to navigate through,
without an obvious ending in sight. It was difficult for me to map the
work in my head. It took an aerial photograph for me to really understand the path I had taken.

The film crew had us walk through it about 25 times and each time, I
noticed something different. The monumental sculptures of his that I
have walked through in the past always remind me of ship hulls (Serra
grew up in shipyards in Marin County so, as he puts it, nautical
references are "in my DNA.")The new work is more suggestive of canyons
in the Southwest and labyrinths.

The work provokes an intense bodily response--at places, the steel leans
in so far, I thought I would fall over. It's very dramatic but also quiet and
subtle at the same time.

MoMA put some of the footage on its website and on you tube, if you
care to take a peek. I only come on at the very end.

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2007/serra/flash.html