The man

Ladies and gentleman, here he is.

The one, the only, Richard @#$%ing Serra!!!

Do not be alarmed by this introduction, as it is rather appropriate. Very few artists ever truly come close to deserving a graphic expletive inserted into their name, and Richard Serra almost deserves two. Richard Serra is most known for his monolithic "torqued ellipses," a.k.a. big effin' sheets of metal, bent and warped to truly show the process of the work as well as the intent.

But what makes Richard Serra so amazing? Yes he uses steel in a larger way than most, but this could be achieved by anyone with the appropriate level engineering skill. His personality is almost as large and, can be, harsh as his works, but as artists we all share a common ego-ground in this respect. No, Serra is Serra because of the shear magnitude of the work. When inside any of the ellipses, or towers as some of them can be, the unadulterated smallness one can feel is unimaginable anywhere else, save the deeper parts of the universe.

Richard Serra has successfully captured the pure soul of metal, and all that it may encompass. The raw, elemental power of his pieces, executed to a degree of perfection that would make a 25 pound super model weep, shows the strong yet malleable nature of the material so central in all of our lives. Harsh in its make-up, stark in its appearance, how else could one truly describe man's true place in existence than these grand flowing, yet unmoving forms. It is to this end that Richard Serra should be exalted from the highest points on the planet as "Ricahrd @#$%ing Serra, lord of all steel.