Richard Serra

Surely you are up to speed with Richard Serra.  Famous for stuff like this ...

Massive rolled-steel and slightly weathered sculptures that, at their best, resemble cinnabons.

I took this shot a year or so ago at Gagosian.

It amuses me because it looks like a close-up of a woman's bikini and the inside of her two thighs but, in reality, is something entirely different.  I think the concrete floors of the gallery are a steelier gray than the blue you see here, but perhaps they color-shifted as part of the photographic process.  The important part of the photo is the depth and caramel, almost fleshy beauty of the oxidized steel.

You get up close to one of Serra's panels and it's like staring at a very muted Jackson Pollock.

But the point of the post is the movie you see below.  He shot it in 1976, which was perhaps when he was starting to wrap his head around the idea of heavy steel.



I found it on DailyBeast.  You can read Blake Gopnik's abbreviated take on it here.  Mr. Gopnik can go on (but can't we all?), but I was surprised he had nothing to say about what appears to be a crucifixion scene at the very end of the clip.

And this would be something to see in the flesh ...