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The Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) has opened what it described as “the most comprehensive exhibitions” of American artist Richard Serra’s artwork in the Middle East. |
The exhibitions opened yesterday in various venues in Doha.
Serra’s “Passage of Time” exhibition, a sculpture comprised of two 66.5m long and 4.1m tall weatherproof steel curves, was unveiled at Al Riwaq Doha.
The German-made steel curves snake diagonally through the site occupying a total area of 5,000sq m.
Alfred Pacquement, curator and art historian, and former director of the Musée National d’ArtModerne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, said at a news conference that Serra’s show is “quite an exceptional project involvement” and it was more than an exhibition.
“It is something that people living in Doha had been familiar with since Serra’s sculpture 7 has been installed at the Museum of Islamic Art Park for a little more than two years now,” he noted.
Pacquement believes that the event is a good opportunity to expand the American artist’s work especially the “East West/West East”, which was unveiled on Tuesday at the Brouq Nature Reserve, near Zekreet in western Qatar.
The opening was led by QMA chairperson HE Sheikha al-Mayassa bint Hamad al-Thani and attended by dignitaries and guests.
Pacquement considers the large-scale public artwork as one of the most important sculpture in the last 50 years.
The curator noted that Serra had favoured steel even early on in his career.
“It is quite a complete proposition so you can understand his contribution to sculpture,” he added.
Serra’s exhibition at QMA Gallery at Katara presents a selection of sculptures and drawings from different periods of the artist’s 50-year career.
It included works from the seminal “One Ton Prop (House of Cards) of 1969” on rare loan from the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Another is the “Double Torqued Ellipse III, 1999” to present the main stages in the development of his work.
Besides his artwork, previous art shows also featured an educational programme involving 6,000 students and aims to gather more participants.
The two exhibitions dubbed as “Richard Serra” will run from April 10 to July 6.
About the kind of sculpture he does, Serra stressed: “If you really get interested in the nature of history of sculpture, and you follow it year by year by year, you will understand that sculpture has evolved from the pedestal to the same behavioural space as people.
“Sculpture has come off the pedestal and has entered into the possibility of making a place, a place and a space where people can walk into through and around.”
