The Brooklyn Rail

I met Richard in the spring of 1999 at Gemini G.E.L. in Los Angeles when I was beginning my career as a printmaker. He walked past me in his characteristic intense and distinct manner and just said, “Hi!” My only experience of “Richard Serra” prior to that encounter was reading in college about Tilted Arc (1981). Little did I imagine I would have a collaboration with him that lasted nearly twenty-five years.

Richard was electrifying in conversation and in his art, and he inspired me to new heights.

I never met an individual who made me believe I could walk through walls, so to speak, and who demanded as much. In the studio, I had to operate at my highest capacity just to try and keep up with him. His minimal instructions were delivered with lightning speed, offering only a few key words for me to try and understand. I reassured myself by repeating over and over, “I’ll figure it out later, I’ll figure it out!”

My work with Richard was physically challenging and evolved through the years into large-scale etchings and prints made with a hand-applied mixture of oil bar, etching ink, and silica. I had to be incredibly creative in my techniques to achieve Richard’s printmaking goals. He blew up the process of printmaking to unrecognizable levels. At the largest scale, we made a three-panel oil bar print titled, Double Rift IV (RS13-4000) (2016). Each panel was 94 by 60 inches, which were aligned together and installed in a three-piece frame, creating an impressive final work measuring 8 ¼ by 15 ¼ feet and weighing close to four hundred pounds.

At the end of every project, Richard always showed enormous gratitude. This was evident in his smile that appeared only when he was completely happy with a result. He wore that smile when sharing his work with Sidney B. Felsen, cofounder of Gemini, repeating, “Sidney! Sidney! Take a look! This is great!” The way he thanked me personally in words was minimal, but his intense stare as he spoke to me assured me: I was part of a select few in his orbit who got to share in the making of his work. 

Now, I am going to miss the hot summers working on a Richard Serra project in the Gemini studio, courtyard, and acid room. I miss laboring over Richard’s enormous copper plates and making a giant mess with ink and oil bars in the former lithography studio that came to be known as “the Serra Studio,” due to the growing scale of his works. Working with Richard, I felt ecstatic, like a pig in mud—an experience I cannot describe precisely in words, but the feeling is very much alive in me.

Richard Serra was more than an event in my life: he was an adventure, a wrestling match, and I loved every minute. I will never forget the feeling of immense accomplishment I had at the end of every project, and I am grateful to Sidney Felsen for allowing me to work solely with Richard as his Master Printer and longtime collaborator. I am eternally grateful to Richard Serra for taking me on the two-and-a-half-decade voyage that has been the most defining experience of my life.