Seri Tai
2019
Carrara Marble
126 x 75 x 59 inches
La Bella Vita, Taichung, Taiwan
Monumental in scale, Seri Tai is a public sculpture designed to harmonize architecture and landscape within the urban setting of Taichung. Carved from Italian Carrara white marble, this work was conceived for Citterio-Viel’s La Bella Vita building. It’s form creating a captivating marriage of stone and water. “The awe-inspiring effect of combining these materials,” says Richard, “creates curious tension and encourages contemplation, while humanizing the grandeur of the Citterio-Viel buildings on either side.”
Since it’s installation in 2019, Seri Tai shaped and was shaped by residents and passersby, taking on new meanings as both a personal touchstone and a public landmark. Appearing to float on water and set amidst the elegant steel, glass, and stone of La Bella Vita, adorned with the pink blossoms of a neighboring tree, Seri Tai is now in dialogue with all of the elements. It is humbling to think how it will reach forward in time to meet future generations — as they might say in our Carrara studio, la vita è bella.
With humble beginnings as a tabletop plaster model in the artist’s Vermont studio, Seri Tai’s spiraling curves were meticulously realized in stunning Carrara marble over the course of 11 months. Designed to both accentuate and soften La Bella Vita’s vertical profile, the form was enlarged from the model by the methodical use of steel calipers to translate its scale onto the 40-ton block.