In 1990, Richard Serra completed the environmental work Áfangar (Standing Stones) on Viðey island, off Reykjavík in Iceland. The topographical installation comprises 18 basalt columns which stand in pairs around the circumference of the western part of the island: it still stands today and regular ferry services to the island carry curious pilgrims there to see it. The columnar basalt refers to the geological history of the island, while the placing and height of the columns underline its contours and topography, the relationship with the environment being a recurring theme in Serra’s work.

In the following year, 1991, Serra sought to distil the installation into other media, or “into another language,” as he put it. “The experience of building the sculpture acted as a catalyst that led to separate activities like etching and drawing.”

During the 1980s, Serra had already begun to investigate a process that employed Paintstik, a dense oil-based medium that added greater weight and surface texture to his prints. Serra filled many notebooks with drawings while working on Videy, and his printers, Gemini G.E.L. of Los Angeles sent small etching plates, transfer paper, and drawing materials out to him at his remote location. After much experimentation, a group of four-by-six-inch copperplates, deeply bitten to create expressive gestural forms, developed into the etchings of the Videy Afangar Series, their small size offering some of the intimacy of notebook drawings.