Constantin Brancusi & Richard Serra: Resting In Time and Space
Text by Friedrich Teja Bach, Raphaël Bouvier, Alfred Pacquement.
In recent years, critics and curators have pursued fascinating lines of analogy and sympathy between the sculptural oeuvres of Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) and Richard Serra (born 1939). Foremost among these shared qualities is the awareness of surrounding space both sculptors foster in the viewer, compelling a spatial encounter in which the sculpture resonates well beyond its own formal achievements. Serra and Brancusi also enjoy a mutual fascination with stacking elements, with spreading and concentrating forms and with stressing weight and material. But the distinctions between their oeuvres are also very telling: where Brancusi plays with the function of the base in his sculptures, making them an integral component of the work, Serra rejects the base altogether and uses the floor, walls and surrounding architecture as part of his enterprise. Constantin Brancusi and Richard Serra: Resting in Time and Space explores this retroactive art-historical conversation by juxtaposing 35 key Brancusis with a selection of Serras from across the artist's career. Key works in marble, bronze, wood and plaster are oriented within the themes outlined above, which position the oeuvres of Brancusi and Serra as the purest and most innovative articulations of abstract sculpture of the past century.
Featured image, Constantin Brancusi's Le commencement du monde (Beginning of the World), ca. 1920, is reproduced from Constantin Brancusi & Richard Serra: Resting In Time and Space.
"Brancusi and Serra/Serra and Brancusi: in the relation between two artists who lastingly shaped their medium, the transformation of the past by the present and the redefinition of predecessors by their successors often have just as great, if not greater, significance than artistic influences in the conventional sense. This also holds for the relation between Brancusi and Serra. Seen through Serra's art, we gain a different understanding of Brancusi's oeuvre; it has changed in our eyes. Only now do certain aspects of his works, such as multi-partite bases, seriality, stacking, and line as cut, become fully apparent; only now have aspects become clear that make his sculpture more than,, and something different from, 'platonic essence' and 'beautiful form.'"
FORMAT: Hbk, 11 x 12.5 in. / 244 pgs / 80 color / 102 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $75.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $90 ISBN: 9783775728218 PUBLISHER: Hatje Cantz AVAILABLE: 10/31/2011 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA
Constantin Brancusi & Richard Serra: Resting In Time and Space
Published by Hatje Cantz. Text by Friedrich Teja Bach, Raphaël Bouvier, Alfred Pacquement.
In recent years, critics and curators have pursued fascinating lines of analogy and sympathy between the sculptural oeuvres of Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) and Richard Serra (born 1939). Foremost among these shared qualities is the awareness of surrounding space both sculptors foster in the viewer, compelling a spatial encounter in which the sculpture resonates well beyond its own formal achievements. Serra and Brancusi also enjoy a mutual fascination with stacking elements, with spreading and concentrating forms and with stressing weight and material. But the distinctions between their oeuvres are also very telling: where Brancusi plays with the function of the base in his sculptures, making them an integral component of the work, Serra rejects the base altogether and uses the floor, walls and surrounding architecture as part of his enterprise. Constantin Brancusi and Richard Serra: Resting in Time and Space explores this retroactive art-historical conversation by juxtaposing 35 key Brancusis with a selection of Serras from across the artist's career. Key works in marble, bronze, wood and plaster are oriented within the themes outlined above, which position the oeuvres of Brancusi and Serra as the purest and most innovative articulations of abstract sculpture of the past century.
