Richard Serra - The Matter of Time

Modern Sculpture Installation at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Oct 29, 2009

Featured at Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is The Matter of Time, a spectacular collection of works by modern sculptor Richard Serra.

Richard Serra is noted for his massive abstract sculptures in modern industrial materials, whose scale redefines the sculptural experience, magnifying line and mass to almost architectural resonance.

These properties make Serra the ideal artist to be showcased within the iconic Guggenheim Bilbao, a building which famously marries sculpture and building design in architect Frank Gehry’s trademark undulating titanium form, itself referencing the Basque city’s modern industrial heritage.

Modern Art Sculpture Exhibition

Richard Serra was commissioned by the Guggenheim Foundation and Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 2003 to create sculptures for permanent exhibit in a dedicated hall of the contemporary art museum. The curators and museum directors involved in the project were inspired by Serra’s 1999 show Torqued Ellipses, which had been exhibited in the gallery to tremendous effect. This commission evolved into The Matter of Time, launched in 2005 with seven new works from 2003 to 2005 joining Snake (1994-1997), an earlier Guggenheim Bilbao commission.

The Matter of Time examines time, space, materiality, sound and movement in a series of large-scale sculptures fabricated in weatherproof steel which acquires a trademark oxidised amber colour over time. Museum visitors move around and through each piece, laid out to the artist’s site-specific design to maximise their effect both at ground level and from the mezzanine above, which affords an overview.

Richard Serra Sculpture in Europe

One of the most pleasurable aspects of The Matter of Time is the acoustics created within certain of the sculptures. Blind Spot Reversed, an epic spiral at the furthest end of the exhibit, literally becomes a musical instrument as visitors’ footsteps reverberate in rich tones changing with the undulation of the structure’s walls. The sound effect is similar to that produced by a didgeridoo.

Just off the exhibit hall, a more intimate room displays the artist’s models for The Matter of Time, as well as the artist’s statement and some photographs of some other Serra works dating back to the 1960s and now on display all over the world. Serra, considered one of the most important living artists in his native America, is equally celebrated in Europe, where his monumental public works can be found in such prestigious spaces as Paris’s Tuileries gardens outside the Louvre and his sculptures and drawings feature in museums like Madrid’s Centro de Arte Reina Sofia.

The Matter of Time is an epic collection which surely cements Richard Serra’s reputation as one of the most innovative, powerful and influential sculptors of all time.

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