SANTA MONICA

There seems to be a minor trend to name new partnership art galleries by mashing the two last names together. No sooner have we noted BlumHellman without a dash or slash than we run across HoffmanBorman. Looks like we’re all turning into Germans, who like to scrunch their words together.

Anyway, HoffmanBorman opens its handsome new space with three huge sculptures by RichardSerra.

Serra--despite public controversy that has styled his work as ugly and meaningless--is an artist who is up to something very clear and concrete. He uses monolithic steel plates to force the viewer to understand the principles of sculpture. This understanding is not achieved intellectually but viscerally--in the gut.

“Flats,” for example, is a piece where an upright wedged into a corner supports a vertical slab in a T-shape. One look and you sense the weight of the members, the apparent precariousness of their balance and what would happen if this steel house of cards collapsed with you under it. Such a sculpture inspires respectful distance.

“Crossroads” is two fence-like lengths of 8-inch-thick steel and two funereal uprights that barks orders like a top sergeant: Forward, march! Left, right, halt! Great aesthetic experience if you like close-order drill.

“Core” consists of two ceiling-tall walls of steel that curve away from narrow openings and lean slightly in the same direction. To walk inside is to know how it feels at the bottom of a well that is also a cell and an iron maiden.

There is no question that Serra is a powerful theoretician who teaches by example. Viewers have to make up their own minds how much they like being threatened, bullied and intimidated. (HoffmanBorman Gallery, 912 Colorado Blvd., to Jan. 12.)