Drawings by Richard Serra

From April 13 to August 28 the Metropolitan Museum in New York presents the first retrospective of artist Richard Serra solely centered on his drawings. This exhibition proposes a study of his drawings both as an independent endeavor and as a practice linked to his sculptural work. The exhibition includes 60 works, from his early works created between 1966 and 1986, it then continues with two steel installations from the 1990s, placed on the Museum¿s sculpture garden, and ends with three works from 2006 that occupy about 13,000 square meters of the building¿s second floor. The drawings Richard Serra created during the 1970s began to explore the formal relationships between sculpture and the spectator. This research would eventually become an independent artistic endeavor in its own right that would gradually augment its identity and importance. In the mid-1970s Serra created his first drawings based on monumental scale installations. Some of these drawings hang across the entire length between the ceiling and the floor of the exhibition room¿s wall. To create these works, the artist places the support directly on the wall and applies the paint with repetitive and vigorous physical gestures. In the last few years Serra has discovered new drawing techniques, as he has radically changed the way he approaches and renders his drawings. This retrospective exhibition culminates with the presentation of his most recent large-scale works, special created for the occasion.