Born San Francisco, CA
BFA and MFA, Yale University New Haven, CT
BA, University of California at Berkeley Berkeley, CA

Known for large-scale steel sculpture of geometric designs, has created site-specific pieces that make three-dimensional designs in space. He has also made wall reliefs and floor sculpture from flexible materials that suggest organic shapes. He is committed to the idea of utilizing quality materials and to the concept that process is as important as the final result.

Serra was born in San Francisco and attended college at Berkeley and Santa Barbara, majoring in English Literature. He studied art at Yale University, earning a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. in 1964. There he worked with Josef Albers and came into contact with many leading artists of the New York School (Abstract Expressionists). He also had a job working in a steel plant, which had lasting influence on his career. On a Fulbright Scholarship, he studied in France and Italy. In 1977, he married Clara Wyergraf.

In addition to steel as a medium for his sculptures, Serra has utilized rubber belts, neon tubes, molten lead, and large metal slabs. In 1968 he made his first "Splash-piece," where molten lead was thrown against the point at which floor and wall meet. His 'Prop series" began around 1969 and involved placing large lead sheets against each other, several yards apart, or hung from ceilings. Many of his pieces are enormous three-dimensional configurations from steel beams and steel plates. His goal is to "create a 'field force . . . so that space is discerned physically rather than optically' " (Baigell 323).

Based in New York City, Serra has traveled extensively to oversee his numerous site-specific sculptures including one for Videy Island near Reykjavik, Iceland. Consisting of nine pairs of basalt columns along the periphery of the island, it has been the most time consuming of his works. He also spends several months a year on Cape Breton island in Nova Scotia "to fill up the reservoir."

Exhibitions
1999	Richard Serra: New Etchings: Torqued Ellipses and Rounds, Gemini G.E.L. Los Angeles, CA
1998	Richard Serra: Rounds, Eleven New Drawings, Galerie m Bochum, Germany
1998	Richard Serra, The Geffen Contemporary at the Mus. of Contem. Art Los Angeles, CA
1998	Richard Serra: Weight and Measure Drawings, Gagosian Gallery New York, NY
1997	Leone and Macdonald/Richard Serra, , Rena Bersten Gallery San Francisco, CA
1996	"Weight and Measure" Etchings and Ike and Tina: a Drawing Installation, Matthew Marks Gallery New York, NY
1996	Richard Serra Drawings, Galerie Nieves Fernandez Madrid, Spain
1996	Richard Serra: Weight and Measure Etchings, John Berggruen Gallery San Francisco, CA
1996	Richard Serra: Prints, International Biennial of Easel Graphik Kaliningrad-Konigsberg, Russia
1996	Richard Serra: Thirteen Intaglio Prints, Gemini G.E.L. Los Angeles, CA
1995	Richard Serra: To Whom it May Concern, Matthew Marks Gallery New York, NY
1995	From Bauhaus to Pop: Masterworks Given by Philip Johnson, The Museum of Modern Art New York, NY
1995	L'Informe; Mode d'Emploi, Centre Georges Pompidou Paris, France
1995	Abstraction in the Twentieth Century: Total Risk, Freedom, Discipline, Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum New York, NY
1994	Beyond Boundaries - Art of the 60s and 70s, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art San Francisco, CA
1994	Sculpture's Maquettes, Pace Wildenstein New York, NY
1994	After and Before, The Renaissance Society at the Univ. of Chicago Chicago, IL
1994	The Tradition of the New: Postwar Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collection, Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum New York, NY
1993	The Tradition of Geometric Abstraction in American Art 1930-1990, The Whitney Museum of American Art New York, NY
1991	Johns, Kelly, Lichtenstein, Serra: Works Loaned by the Artists in honor of Neill Rudenstein, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Cambridge, MA
1991	Richard Serra: The Afangar Icelandic Series, The Museum of Modern Art New York, NY
1991	Richard Serra: Sculpture and Drawings, Gagosian Gallery New York, NY
1991	Richard Serra: Skulptur, Malmö Konsthall Malmö, Sweden
1990	Richard Serra:Tekeningen/Drawings, Bonnefantenmuseum Maastrict, Netherlands
1990	Richard Serra: The Hours of the Day, Kunsthaus Zurich
1990	Image World: Art and Media Culture, The Whitney Museum of American Art New York, NY
1989	The Linear Image: American Master Work on Paper, Marisa del Re Gallery New York, NY
1988	Richard Serra; Graphik, Galerie Cora Hölzl Dusseldorf
1988	Richard Serra: Gravures Récentes, Galerie Lelong Paris
1987	Richard Serra: New Editions, Pace Primitive/Prints New York, NY
1987	Richard Serra: Sculpture, Leo Castelli Gallery and Pace Gallery New York, NY
1985	Black: Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Richard Serra, Akira Ikeda Gallery Tokyo, Japan
1984	Richard Serra: Room Installation and Drawings from "Clara-Clara", Leo Castelli Gallery New York, NY
1984	Richard Serra: Sculpture, Galerie Daniel Templon Paris
1983	Gemini G.E.L., Art and Collaboration, National Gallery of Art Washington, D.C.
1982	A Century of Modern Drawing (org. under the Int'l. Council of MOMA, NY), The British Museum London
1981	Richard Serra: Recent Drawings, Blum Helman Gallery New York, NY
1980	Richard Serra: Elevator 1980, The Hudson River Museum Yonkers, NY
1980	91e Salon des Artistes Independants, Grand Palais Paris
1974	Art as Language (org. under the Int'l. Council of MOMA, NY), Museo de Arte Moderna Bogota (traveled)
1973	Opinions and Alternatives: Some Directions in Recent Art, Yale University Art Gallery New Haven, CT
1971	Sixth Guggenheim International, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York, NY
1968	Primary Structure, Minimal pop Art, Anti-Form, Galerie Ricke Kassel, Germany
1966	From Arp to Arschwager 1, Noah Goldowsky Gallery New York, NY

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