To The Editor:
Martha Schwendener’s recent article “Shifting His
Tectonic Plates” (January 10) referred to the Federal government’s destruction
of my sculpture “Tilted Arc” and went on to claim, incorrectly, that “in the
aftermath of that fiasco” I stopped fighting for the rights of artists creating
public sculpture. In fact, I waged a
five-year battle against the misrepresentations, false promises and deceptions
of the General Services Administration, and most importantly took my case to
court with the aim of defending the right of artists to make work free from censorship,
defacement or destruction by government agencies. Although I lost the case, with the court
allowing the government to establish a precedent for property rights over free
expression, I have never stopped speaking out for the moral rights of all artists.Richard Serra