Magnificent metal

I find it fascinating in a way that as a person who loves paper, the strength and the softness of it, and fabric, the weave and the suppleness of it, that I also love metal.

We had the good fortune to serendipitously discover that the Gagosian galleries were showing some fabulous metal sculptures. Bill, our landlord here, slipped some art info under our door on Friday night and we went there Saturday (they are closed for Christmas now). Serendipity indeed.

First we saw Richard Serra's magnificent Inside Out. We walked thru it and around it and we were silent with awe. I saw so many stories in this work, the detail in the metal revealed words and tears and rain to me. And the spaces that enclosed, and then revealed, that impinged and then released.

We went further to see more of his works, and here are details of 7 plates 6 angles and Intervals.

Again the strength, scale and solidity of these works, was counterpointed for me by the multiplicity of stories of creation and the world and our lives here on earth that you could see in the detailed etchings on the metal. I was spellbound and spent ages examining the plates and exclaiming at their beauty Nd the tales they revealed.

 

I felt so at home with these marvellous works.

We headed to a third Gagosian gallery and saw The Forgings by David Smith, completely different in scale and form, yet again full of meaning and stories. We spent a lot of time with all these works.

Then today, again courtesy of Bill's note under the door, we headed north to the Studio Museum in Harlem and again, it was the metal which spoke most to me. Here is Rat by Cyrus Kabiru.

I don't know why metal feels like home, and why I am so drawn to it, but these pieces will all stay with me for a long time. Long live Serendipity I say.