Richard Serra gives Barack Obama his steely support

Richard Serra (pictured), the American sculptor and video artist, appears confident that Hillary Clinton will soon abandon her bid to become the Democratic nominee. Indeed, he is already planning to petition Senator Barack Obama to create, for the first time in US history, a Secretary for Culture. Talking to the Guardian, he said: "When Obama becomes president, we're going to suggest he gets a minister of culture. America has never had one."

Serra, 70, made his remarks in Paris, where his monumental sculpture Promenade, situated at the Grand Palais, has just been opened to the public. The work, which consists of five sheer, commanding sheets of rusted steel planted at regular intervals, is seen as Paris's attempt to emulate the Tate Modern's annual commission for the Turbine Hall, which regularly attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors.