A sculpture is consistently thought of as a static thing; a half-monument of sorts, dedicated to posterity or, in certain cases, outright vanity. But a sculpture can be more -- a great deal more, in fact, if it’s been composed by art world giant Richard Serra.

Serra is known the world over as the preeminent sculptor of his time. The American born artist is best known as a minimalist, using structure to engage, possibly excite the sensations of its inhabitant’s.

Those sensations are varied in degrees. It’s possible to quite literally lose your equilibrium in a structure like his “spiral labyrinth.” Angles and lines can wash over you in a way that plays with your sense of balance and direction. Serra also engages sound in his design. Even in a structure with no right angles -- where there is always someone around the bend -- you are nonetheless enveloped by the noise that surrounds, emanating from others in that same maze as you or even from the reverberations of industrial metal, a material Serra often seeks when creating his structures.

If it isn’t already apparent, he works primarily with large scale structure. Perhaps his best known works are the austere spiral constructs permanently exhibited at the Bilbao Guggenheim in Spain. To enjoy something of his a little closer to home New York’s MoMa museum is featuring the “Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years” exhibit, on display until September 10th.

-- Michael N.