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  • Richard Serra

ArcelorMittal and Richard Serra: a long-term artistic partnership

Richard Serra is a renowned American artist best known for his large sculptural shapes made of steel meeting the challenges of weight, balance, density and measurements and creating a dazzling effect on spectators' perception of space. Industeel, a subsidiary of ArcelorMittal, has been supplying steel plates for several of Richard Serra’s projects that demonstrate the modernity, aesthetics, strength and performance of steel.

Today, his works are held in the collections of the Guggenheim Bilbao, the Dia: Beacon in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Gallery in London, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others.

Our history with Richard Serra dates back for more than a decade though. Below you will find some highlights.

Promenade

In 2008, Richard Serra’s installation Promenade was exhibited in the Grand Palais in Paris as part of the Monumenta exhibition. Promenade was composed of 5 monumental steel plates, each measuring 17 metres, weighing 75 tonnes and located 28 metres from each other and tilted at 1.69°.

The 5 plates were produced in Industeel’s Chateauneuf heavy plate mill located in Rive-de-Gier (France). Ten days were necessary to transport them to Paris, with a special convoy composed of 5 trucks. Once arrived on site, two cranes were used to unload them and set them up.

Promenade is said to be inspired by the Japanese Zen gardens that Richard Serra visited during a trip to Kyoto in the early 1970s and particularly the gardens of the Myōshin-ji temple complex. The installation highlights the acts of wandering and looking; the slight tilt of the plates gives rhythm to the space and changes it as visitors wander around the plates.


Other major works

Throughout the years, Richard Serra used our steel plates for other major artworks. All the plates were produced in the Rive-de-Gier mill.

Intervals, Gagosian Gallery, London (2013)

Intervals was created using 24 weatherproof steel plates measuring 3.3 metres in length, 1.8 metre in width and 222 mm in depth.

7 Plates, 6 Angles, Gagosian Gallery, London (2013)

7 Plates, 6 Angles was another artwork realised with weatherproof steel. This time, the plates were 12 metres high and created huge steel walls zigzagging through the gallery and divided in triangular spaces where the plates meet at acute angles.

East-West / West-East,Qatar (2014)

East-West / West-East was installed in the Brouq Nature Reserve in the Qatari desert. The permanent artwork required four 15-metre-high steel plates. 

Every Which Way, Gagosian Gallery, London (2015)

16 weatherproof steel plates measuring between 2 and 3.4 metres were necessary to realise Every Which Way.

 

Another project in currently under development in the US. It will involve 5 steel plates of 13 metres high.

About Richard Serra

Born in 1938, Richard Serra is an American contemporary artist based in New York City. He studied painting in the Master of Fine Arts programme at the Yale University School of Art and Architecture between 1961 and 1964. Richard Serra worked in steel mills to finance his studies, this period of his life would have a great influence on his future work as his work mainly consists of monumental steel and lead sculptures.

Related links

Webpage of Industeel

About Richard Serra