Double Rift

Richard Serra (born in 1939) is a central figure of contemporary sculpture. His work, which can be found in many public and private collections around the world, mainly consists of monumental works made from Corten steel that play with the concepts of balance and mass. Alongside his sculptures, the artist has always developed a substantial body of work on paper, essentially black, made up of drawings and etchings. The prints are produced on the presses of Gemini G.E.L in Los Angeles.

Over the last 30 years, Galerie Lelong & Co. has regularly exhibited these etchings; the production and printing techniques of these works have improved over time, and have achieved a material and dimensions that increasingly satisfy the artist. Richard Serra has experimented successively with screen-printing, lithography and etching, going as far as to use oil stick and silica today. The material that is obtained in this manner is extremely dense and powerful, in a deep black.

This new exhibition will include the works of the series Rift and Double Rift, where Richard Serra saturates very large sheets of paper in black, leaving only very limited space to the white, which insinuates itself into the work like a rift line or a gash. The majestic etchings dominate the viewer, giving an impression of fragile equilibrium and monumentality in two dimensions. The exhibition will also include Finally Finished (2017), a powerful dynamic image where black circles fly around like springs.

In 1990, Galerie Lelong & Co. published Ecrits et entretiens 1970-1989 by Richard Serra.