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Iron Man Part 1

            Iron Man,  Part 1
The American sculptor Richard Serra is an iron man for having skill and determination to carry out large projects and his preferred material is core-ten steel. He grew up in California working off and on at a steel mill and attending college there before continuing in art at Yale.
The name core-ten steel comes from its properties ‒ corrosion resistance and tensile strength.  Corrosion resistance in this case means the steel forms a thin rust-like outer surface which resists further corrosion.  Ordinary steel if not protected from the weather can rust deeply and continuously thus deteriorating. For comparison, copper too forms a coating as seen on old tarnished pennies or on copper roof flashing.  Similarly, bronze ages to have a greenish surface and aluminum in time takes on a grayish look.
If cor-ten steel is protected indoors that rusty look doesn’t develop.  Please look at Serra’s core-ten sculpture called Trip Hammer from 1988 in the Tate Modern museum in London.  It is composed of a heavy vertical plate with another plate balanced on top and touching two walls in the corner of a room.  Serra’s works typically stay in place by gravity and friction alone ‒ without fasteners. The look is reminiscent of the Stonehenge Ancient stone circle but significantly the Stonehenge uprights have hidden tenons going into mortices in the lintels above.
         


A somewhat similar work is called Malmo Roll from 1984.  It too has a vertical plate facing into a corner, this time held in place by a steel cylinder with ends jammed into the two walls and its surface jammed against a corner of the plate.  The plate can’t move away from the corner due to friction of the plate against the floor. Nonetheless, one can’t help but think the arrangement is vulnerable to someone kicking the plate from the side.  We show a detail to better appreciate the fit of the objects, which is remarkable.


What is the allure of these works?  They look good and the clever simplicity plus underlying principles are satisfying to the mind ‒ with danger lurking.
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