The two texts “Excerpt from Other Criteria: The Flatbed Picture Plane by Leo Steinberg” and “The Yale Lecture by Richard Serra” explore two different mediums and methods of working. Steinberg explores the medium of painting and also examines the different perspectives and definitions of what a painting can be. Serra on the other hand explores sculpture and the process of sculpture as a whole.

Steinberg explores how painting has evolved over the years and has pushed boundaries in perception and those who cling to the dated ways of painting have a capped perspective on what could be created. As he writes, “It is part of a shakeup which contaminates all purified categories. The deepening inroads of art into non-art continue to alienate the connoisseur as art defects and departs into strange territories leaving the old stand-by criteria to rule an eroding plain.” touching upon the fact that painting as a practice has progressed and the relationship between the artist, the painting and the viewer has developed and needs to progress to remain relevant and current. Painting has moved away from the more classical beginnings and have moved into the more abstract region, allowing for new processes to be formed and explored. Steinberg is flexible in his opinions in that he recognizes that artists of a more current era have influence such as Duchamp but those who are from the more “classical” era are still experimentitive and progressive such as Rauschenberg as he writes, “I once heard Jasper Johns say that Rauschenberg was the man who in this century had invented the most since Picasso. What he invented above all was, I think, a pictorial surface that let the world in again…Rauschenberg’s picture plane is for the consciousness immersed in the brain of the city.” Explaining how even those from a past era can be innovative and forward thinking.

Serra explores how sculpture and sculptors have neglected the creation process of the sculpture and how the industrial roots of the sculpting process is something to be included and featured in the piece but is often ignored by modern sculptors. He explains, “Sculptors for the most part have ignored the results of the industrial revolution failing to investigate these fundamental processes and methods of steelmaking, engineering and construction.” hinting on that the industrial background of sculpting is nothing to be ignored or forgotten and in his opinion is an asset to a piece. He goes on to explain that modern sculptors are more focused on the end and final finished product and are often steered by corporate funded projects. “Corporate sponsorship for the art breeds economic opportunism and reinforces palatable artistic conventions. Artists who willingly accept corporate support likewise submit to corporate control. In effect, they become puppet creators.” Serra explains that sculpture in this current era has forgotten where it has come from i.e it’s industrial beginnings and processes. By submitting to corporate art projects sculptors end up created pieces for the wrong reasons and the purpose for art becomes misconstrued as he describes , “Cultural and educational inequalities based on economic inequality are a reality which needs to be revealed and not glossed over by a populist notion of art for the people.” In short Serra dissects why sculptors need to go back to the industrial roots not only to show and appreciate the creation process of the sculpture and that the introduction of technology and corporations have altered why art is made.

Overall, Serra criticises sculptors on forgetting their industrial roots and past and explores how modern technology and the temptation of corporate sponsored projects have taken the meaning of the work to a diluted region where it adds as a distraction or pathetic attempt of stitching up social issues. Whereas, Steinberg encourages painters and paintings to be pushed forward and to not become trapped in the classical methods with a narrowed perspective on what can be created, “The deepening inroads of art into non-art continue to alienate the connoisseur as art defects and departs into strange territories leaving the old stand-by criteria to rule an eroding plain.”