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Richard Serra
Gutter Corner Splash: Night Shift, 1969/1995

Artwork Info

Artwork title
Gutter Corner Splash: Night Shift
Artist name
Richard Serra
Date created
1969/1995
Classification
sculpture
Medium
lead
Dimensions
19 in. × 108 in. × 179 in. (48.26 cm × 274.32 cm × 454.66 cm)
Date acquired
1991
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
Gift of Jasper Johns
Copyright
© Richard Serra / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/91.30
Artwork status
Not on view at this time.

Audio Stories

Why does this work seem unfinished?

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PAMELA LEE:  

In the mid-1960s, a number of artists began to be increasingly concerned with the way in which place or site conditioned the work of art.  

 

NARRATOR:  

Art historian Pamela Lee.  

 

LEE: 

One of the most important figures for site-specific art is the sculptor Richard Serra, who is in fact a native son of San Francisco. But for Serra, the particularities of each site really foreground the way in which you, the viewer, are supposed to encounter the work of art.  

The other thing that Serra was very much concerned with is the notion or the idea of process in his works of art. He wants to show the view how the work of art was made. And I think we can see how much this is true in a piece like this splashing or casting piece. Some people might initially look at this work and think: Why, this is quite sloppy; the artist has done nothing to clean up the space in which he was working. But by having the flings, um, having the splashes of lead, and the various drips and drops of lead remain in the site, I think the viewer gets a very real sense of the way in which the artist is flinging, very physically, very gesturally, these materials into all areas of the room. 

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