He studied fine arts at Yale from 1961 to 1964, completing his BFA and MFA there. There, he met classmates such as Chuck Close and his first wife, Nancy Graves, and showed some of his character when he was suspended for two weeks for being irreverent towards Robert Rauschenberg, bringing a live chicken to class.
During the early 1960s, he came into contact with Philip Guston, Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Joseph Beuys, and Frank Stella. In 1964 and 1965 Serra received a Yale Traveling Fellowship and traveled to Paris, where he frequently visited the reconstruction of Constantin Brancusi‘s studio at the Musée National d’Art Moderne. After various travels through southern Europe and northern Africa and after his first solo exhibition in Rome in 1966, he moved to New York. Here his circle of friends included Carl Andre, Walter De Maria, Eva Hesse, Sol LeWitt, and Robert Smithson.
Serra 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.
He identified Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollock as his main inspirations. His sculptures recast Minimalism on a monumental scale with rolled Cor-Ten steel with a rusted surface. As much as for their size, sculptures like Torqued Ellipses (1996-1997) count among the twentieth century’s most iconic artworks.
His always monumental scale work established an interesting dialogue with naval steelworks or the work of contemporary sculptors such as Jorge de Oteiza or Eduardo Chillida. A relationship that would crystallize in Spain when his friendship with Frank Gehry (and his connection with Spain through his father) led him to create seven monumental sculptures commissioned by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, which would be installed in the largest room of the museum. The seven sculptures join his piece Serpiente (Snake, 1994–97) (made for the inauguration of the Museum), creating in scale and dimension an unprecedented work inside a museum.
During the early 1960s, he came into contact with Philip Guston, Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Joseph Beuys, and Frank Stella. In 1964 and 1965 Serra received a Yale Traveling Fellowship and traveled to Paris, where he frequently visited the reconstruction of Constantin Brancusi‘s studio at the Musée National d’Art Moderne. After various travels through southern Europe and northern Africa and after his first solo exhibition in Rome in 1966, he moved to New York. Here his circle of friends included Carl Andre, Walter De Maria, Eva Hesse, Sol LeWitt, and Robert Smithson.
Serra 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.
He identified Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollock as his main inspirations. His sculptures recast Minimalism on a monumental scale with rolled Cor-Ten steel with a rusted surface. As much as for their size, sculptures like Torqued Ellipses (1996-1997) count among the twentieth century’s most iconic artworks.
His always monumental scale work established an interesting dialogue with naval steelworks or the work of contemporary sculptors such as Jorge de Oteiza or Eduardo Chillida. A relationship that would crystallize in Spain when his friendship with Frank Gehry (and his connection with Spain through his father) led him to create seven monumental sculptures commissioned by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, which would be installed in the largest room of the museum. The seven sculptures join his piece Serpiente (Snake, 1994–97) (made for the inauguration of the Museum), creating in scale and dimension an unprecedented work inside a museum.
