Artist Richard Serra, whose monumental abstract sculptures transformed museums, public spaces and even entire landscapes, has died aged 85.

The American sculptor died from pneumonia at his home in New York on Tuesday.

Across his six-decade career, Serra established himself as one of the most celebrated artists in postwar America.

Working primarily with steel — often twisted into evocative shapes and oxidized to achieve a distinctive deep orange palette — Serra was known for large-scale sculptures designed not only to be observed but to be explored, experienced and felt. His site-specific creations, whether carved into a grassy field or permanently installed in the Guggenheim Museum’s outpost in Bilbao, also invited viewers to engage with their surroundings in new ways.

A tribute posted to the Guggenheim’s Instagram account on Tuesday said that Serra’s work “reshaped our perceptions of space and form and redefined the connection between viewer and artwork.” The statement added: “Beyond the sheer scale and grandeur of his creations, Serra’s artistic vision was rooted in a deep understanding of the relationship between art, architecture, and the environment.”

Born in San Francisco, California in 1938, Serra was exposed to his signature material early in life: The son of a shipyard pipe fitter, he worked at steel mills to support his studies at the University of California at Berkeley and Santa Barbara. In the early 1960s, Serra studied painting at Yale and befriended many of the medium’s modern greats, including Philip Guston and Robert Rauschenberg, though he seemed to yearn for a third dimension and materials beyond paint or canvas.

After studying and traveling in Europe, Serra moved to New York and began working on sculptures made from rubber and fiberglass. His early minimalist experimentations with metal saw him splashing molten lead into the corners of rooms and precariously leaning steel objects against one another.

His sense of scale grew even more ambitious in the 1970s — and so, too, did the settings he was invited to work in. Forging or rolling steel into plates and curved slabs, he began producing larger works that reimagined the spaces in which they were installed.

As a result, Serra started attracting high-profile public commissions. Among the best known was the 120-foot-long “Tilted Arc,” installed at New York’s Federal Plaza in 1981 before being dismantled eight years later following complaints (and a public hearing) over its impact on public space. Critics disliked the fact that pedestrians had to circumvent the sculpture in order to cross the plaza. But this epitomized Serra’s approach to art: His work was intended to engage, not be admired from afar. (SD-Agencies)

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【委约创作】wěiyuē chuàngzuò commission a formal request to produce something in exchange for payment

【绕过】ràoguò circumvent find a way around an obstacle

周二，美国雕塑家理查德•塞拉在纽约家中因肺炎去世，享年85岁，他的大型抽象雕塑改变了博物馆、公共空间甚至整个城市景观。

塞拉拥有长达六十年的职业生涯，是战后美国最著名的艺术家之一。他主要使用钢材创作那些著名的大型雕塑 —— 它们扭曲成让人难忘的形状，并经过氧化处理，呈现出独特的深橙色调。这些雕塑不仅用来观赏，更是为了让人探索、体验和感受。他为特定地点创作的作品，无论是雕刻在草地上，还是永久放置在毕尔巴鄂古根海姆博物馆的前面，无不在邀请观众以全新的方式与周围的环境互动。

古根海姆博物馆的Instagram账户周二发布了一份声明来致敬艺术家，称他的作品“重塑了我们对空间和形式的认知，重新定义了观众与艺术品之间的联系”。声明还说：“其创作规模宏大，塞拉的创作理念植根于对艺术、建筑和环境之间关系的深刻理解。”

塞拉1938年出生在加利福尼亚州旧金山，很早就接触到了他的雕塑材料：他是船厂管道安装工的儿子，曾在钢铁厂打工赚钱，为他在加州大学伯克利分校和圣巴巴拉分校接受的教育付学费。20世纪60年代初，塞拉在耶鲁大学学习绘画，并结识了菲利普•古斯顿和罗伯特•劳申伯格等许多现代绘画大师。

在欧洲学习和旅行之后，塞拉搬到了纽约，开始用橡胶和玻璃纤维制作雕塑。在他早期的极简主义金属实验中，他将熔化的铅泼洒到房间的角落里，将钢制物品堆叠在一起，看起来岌岌可危。20世纪70年代，他的作品变得更加雄心勃勃 —— 他也被邀请到更知名的地点创作。他将钢材锻造或轧制成钢板和弧形板，开始创作大型作品，重新构想安放这些作品的空间。

塞拉逐渐收到邀约创作著名的公共雕塑。其中最著名的是120英尺长的

《倾斜的弧》，1981年安装在纽约联邦广场，八年后因其对公共空间的影响遭到投诉（并举行了公开听证会）而被拆除。批评者说作品妨碍通行，因为行人必须绕过雕塑才能穿过广场。但这正是塞拉艺术创作方法的缩影： 他的作品旨在触发互动，而不是让人从远处欣赏。

(Translated by Debra)