Richard Serra’s Blank 1978 drawing comprises heavy linen covered thickly with black paintstick and tacked directly on to the wall of the gallery. It is one of a number of experiments of Serra’s in to minimalist work focusing on materials rather than subject. Although Serra had been producing minimalist work throughout, this work features toward the end of the height of minimalist movement which became prominent in the 1960s. A retaliation to the abstract expressionism of earlier in the decade, minimalism focused on the art itself, materials and surface, without the frivolous brush strokes and shapes of the post war pieces. Blank 1978 fits directly in to this ideal with no discernible shapes, strokes or subjects, just the solid black surface of the canvas. Minimalism continues through Serra’s works including in to his weathered metal sculptures in which the typical minimalist preoccupation with material persists.

Author Unnamed (date unspecified) Art Movements, Magic Web Solutions UK. Avaiable from: http://www.artmovements.co.uk/minimalism.htm [accessed 6/12/17]

Author Unnamed (date unspecified) Tate. Avaiable from: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/minimalism [accessed 6/12/17]

Author Unnamed (date unspecified) Wikipedia. Avaiable from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Serra [accessed 6/12/17]

Photographer unnamed Available from: http://www.stedelijk.nl/en/artwork/1554-blank [accessed 6/12/17]