Richard Serra is a sculptor whose work is highly criticized because of its simplistic nature. Richard Serra's artistic ability isn't a new realization, for his mother realized his creativity when he was a young child in elementary. She highly encouraged his artwork and introduced Richard as "the Artist." Richard then continued testing his abilities and painted art pieces. Throughout his high school years, beginning at the age of 16, Richard worked in steel mills, including Bethlehem Steel and Ryerson Steel. He didn't realize this at the time, but the education learned at the steel mills would greatly influence his later work. While attending Yale, Richard became interested in the stuffing on animals. He, in fact, stuffed several animals and displayed them in cages to appear as if they were alive. As one could guess, this was extremely criticized and not looked upon as "art." A company in San Francisco, Richard's hometown, was closing and about to destroy its two tons of rubber; rather, Richard called the company and bought the rubber from them. Intricately designing the rubber upon the floor of his workshop, Richard made his first sculpture-another piece looked down upon. Richard then realized that he needed to individual himself. From a friend of his, he had several sheets of lead sent to his home in San Francisco. Richard propped the lead up in several different designs, realizing the flexibility and versatility of the lead. Recalling his knowledge in steel, Richard called his old steel plants and had several tons of sheets of steel sent to his home also. It was then that Richard began to manipulate the steel in designs that were so geometrically correct and artistically unique, that they almost crossed into architecture.
Steel became Richard Serra's predominant use of material for his sculpture. His analytical eye allowed him to view the steel in a very unique and intelligent perspective.