Serra's Sequence

My second discovery from my recent Stanford trip (see more here...) is Richard Serra's spectacular Sequence. I am quite the fan of this San Francisco local artist. To be exact a new fan; I have discovered his work only recently. Yet somehow Serra is becoming the artist I am self-learning how to enjoy contemporary work.

Take the Sequence as an example. Sequence is an imposing steel structure measuring close to 70 feel long and 13 feed height. Imagine, it weights more then 200 tons! It is composed of two connecting enormous figure-eights. As we only had few minutes to spare, I literally ran through the object. My immediate reaction was a tiny doze of claustrophobia, but I promptly calmed down as the tilted walls and enclosed halls brought images of Utah's canyons into my mind.

And so I believe this was Serra's intention: one has to interact with the sculpture (you literally can walked into the heart of it). And by bringing personal emotions and life experiences, the Sequences can augment your art understanding.

Look how imposing the Sequence is!

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Can you also see the resemblance?

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Rodin and his herous...

San Francisco's larger area is indeed full of treasures. Today my boyfriend and I spent our day at the Stanford campus in Palo Alto. Little did I know of Rodin's sculptures exhibited there (ohh my ignorance!). Rodin, the world famous French artist, is a progenitor of modern sculpture and I finally had real glimpse of why.

Right in front of one of the Stanford's Art centers, there stood the famous heroic Burghers of Calais. In nuttshell the statute depicts a story as follows:  Edward III, the English king, besieged the city of Calais and offered to spare the city if six of its inhabits would give themselves up to him. And so it was six 'burghers' of Calais voluntarily agreed to surrender themselves to Edward's hands. Mind you this is not a story of big victory, but a story of sorrow and human sacrifice. And Rodin depicted it with utmost realism. The statute comprises of the heroic burgers marching towards what they thought was certain execution.

I just read that initially the statute stood at a pedestal, but eventually was brought down to the ground as for the viewer to be able to better experience and interact with the individual figures. Genius! It's quite a remarkable experience to be able to look straight into the suffering eyes of Rodin's heroes and enjoy each of the burger's individual posture.

And this is officially my first art posting... Hopefully many more to come!