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Richard Serra, monumental steel sculptor and inspiration to many architects, has died at 85

2024-03-27T11:20:00-04:00

Richard Serra has died. The 85-year-old sculptor who made architecture more or less a permanent condition of his art was known for inventing a process for bending corten steel to create works he explained were about eliciting sensation and intended to display the unseen physical forces of nature.

More than any other contemporary artist (Sarah Sze, Robert Irwin, Richard Estes, etc.) whose work is informed by or makes as its subject architecture, Serra’s use of steel as a means of organizing space and sequencing experience within it is, arguably, the greatest primer for any learner embarking on academic studies in the field.

He began his experimentations first with rubber before advancing to cast lead and then finally steel, a material whose properties and building potential he understood innately thanks to time spent working in steel mills during his early years in California. The opportunity to study art at Yale University changed his life thereafter.

Serra's 'Bend' sculpture at the...

Thomas Phifer's Richard Serra sculpture pavilion at the Glenstone Museum debuts in new film

2023-04-05T11:35:00-04:00

Thomas Phifer's custom-designed building for Richard Serra's monumental 2017 Four Rounds: Equal Weight, Unequal Measure sculpture at Maryland's Glenstone Museum is the subject of a new documentary short from Rava Films.

Premiering at last month's Montreal International Festival of Films on Art, You Are The Subject: Richard Serra at Glenstone charts the journey of the 656,000-pound sculpture from New Jersey to its new home at the 230-acre museum, where it was installed in July 2021.

According to the Glenstone, the film features previously unpublished reflections from the artist and the museum's Director and Co-Founder, Emily Rales, along with other key collaborators.

Still from "You Are The Subject: Richard Serra at Glenstone”. Image courtesy Glenstone Museum

The sculpture comprises four 82-ton forged steel segments which are now housed in a dedicated 4,000-square-foot pavilion that the architect designed in collaboration with Serra. This is now Serra's third site-specific piece at t...

Rendering unveiled for a new Richard Serra sculpture building at the Glenstone Museum in Maryland

2021-07-13T17:14:00-04:00

A Richard Serra sculpture is coming to the Glenstone Museum, and today it has a new home.

The 15-year-old private collection has announced plans for a new dedicated 4,000-square-foot space that will house a forthcoming installation by the artist on its 230-acre location in suburban Maryland next year.

Thomas Phifer and Partners worked with Serra on plans for the new building that updates the museum’s original intent to have its collection displayed in an elevated way via separate individual viewing spaces that serve as guideposts on a journey undertaken by visitors navigating a central trail. The paneled envelope of the structure looms out of the wilderness upon approach, precast concrete and landscape combine to give the impression of a rock formation or bunker to onlookers who enter the structure through a single centered doorway.

Courtesy of the Glenstone Museum

“Creating another building for Glenstone’s extraordinary landscape while working with Richard Serra, without question ...

Photos of the completed $200m Glenstone expansion

2018-09-24T15:25:00-04:00

The $200 million expansion adds 11 rooms constructed of stacked concrete blocks that are connected by a glass-walled passage and surround an 18,000-square-foot water court. [...] The Glenstone addition also has a strong outdoor component, with 130 acres of meadows, woodlands and streams, designed by Adam Greenspan and Peter Walker of PWP Landscape Architecture. Among the sculptures integrated into the landscape are those by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Ellsworth Kelly and Richard Serra.

“We considered the landscape as the inspiration,” said Thomas Phifer, architect of the five-year Glenstone expansion project. “The visitor’s arrival is choreographed through the trees and open fields, heightening your experience with the land and revealing the subtle qualities of the site. From your first moments at Glenstone, you experience a place with few distractions, the bustle of ordinary daily activities drops away, and your mind and soul prepare for an intimate encounter with art.”

Aerial of the Pavilions. Photo: PWP Landscape Architecture. Courtesy: Glenstone Museum.

Aerial of Pavilions. Photo: Iwan Baan. Courtesy: Glenstone Museum.

Water Court at the Pavilions. Photo: Iwan Baan. Courtesy: Glenstone Museum.

The Passage in the Pavilions. Photo: Iwan Baan. Courtesy: Glenstone Museum.

The Passage in the Pavilions. Martin Puryear, Big Phrygian, 2010-2014, painted red cedar, 58 x 40 x 76 inches (147 x 101 x 193 cm), © Martin Puryear, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery. Photo: Ron Amstutz...

Thomas Phifer-designed Glenstone expansion to open in October with impressive lineup

2018-07-20T19:57:00-04:00

The Pavilions, designed by Thomas Phifer of Thomas Phifer and Partners, is a 204,000-square-foot building providing 50,000 square feet of indoor exhibition space. That is more than five times the space available in Glenstone’s original building, designed by Charles Gwathmey (and currently installed with an impressive Louise Bourgeois exhibition, drawn from the collection).

The new 'The Pavilions' space by Thomas Phifer and Partners (with landscapes designed by Peter Walker and Partners) is scheduled to open on October 4 and will showcase pieces by big name artists like Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Richard Serra, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Photo: Iwan Baan/Glenstone Museum.

"Incorporated seamlessly into Glenstone’s 230-acre landscape, the Pavilions comprises 11 distinct rooms installed with artworks drawn exclusively from the museum’s collection, grouped around a lushly planted, 18,000-square-foot Water Court," explains the museum's announcement.

"At the time of the opening, the building will feature a number of spaces dedicated to single-artist installations, including major works by Michael Heizer, Roni Horn, On Kawara, Brice Marden, Lygia Pape, Charles Ray, and Cy Twombly, among others. In addition, a presentation of 65 works by 52 artists will occupy the largest room in the Pavilions, a column-free space of 9,000 square feet. The exhibi...

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Rales

2013-04-29T11:48:00-04:00

Before Mr. Phifer, the architect, began designing the new building, he used a stack of about 80 flash cards or “inspiration boards,” as he called them, to get a sense of the Rales’s tastes and vision. There were pictures of Shaker villages and ancient art, rock gardens and a floor sculpture by Carl Andre.

Carol Vogel visited Glenstone, home of the semi-public, art collection of Mitchell and Emily Rales in Potomac, Md. Currently housed in a sleek 25,000-square-foot museum by Charles Gwathmey, the owners have plans for a major expansion designed by Tom Phifer. As proposed the project consists of a series of interconnecting pavilions for permanent installations, each devoted to a single artist, as well as a large gallery for special exhibitions.