The American artist Richard Serra, a major figure in contemporary art with monumental works made of rusty steel plates, died Tuesday at the age of 85, according to
the New York Times
, citing his lawyer.
He died at his home in New York state following pneumonia, according to the American daily.
Exhibited in major American museums in the desert of Qatar, Richard Serra has delivered massive, rounded works, yet minimalist in appearance, pushing reflection on space and the environment.
Born in San Francisco to a mother of Russian Jewish origin and a Spanish father, he trained in Paris then settled in the 1960s in New York in full artistic ferment.
At the end of this decade, he published a manifesto then revealed a founding work,
“One ton prop (House of cards)”
, four lead plates measuring 122x122 cm, held in balance by their own weight, like a card castle.
He then moved on to large plates of orange-brown steel, as if rusty, exhibited in New York, Washington, Bilbao, and even Paris.
In 2014, he even planted dark towers in the sand of Qatar, so far away that you need a 4x4 and a good map to get there, 70 km from the capital, Doha.
“When you see my pieces, you don’t remember an object.
We retain an experience, a passage
,” he said in 2004.