Phillip King

Description

Phillip King made Slant shortly after Slit, both similar arrangements of flat surfaces and both a development of the cone idea, manifest in Rosebud and Genghis Khan. The principles of 'standing up' were a preoccupation at the time, as was the idea of 'leaning', exemplified in Span and Brake, also made in 1966.

It is quite easy to see how Slant develops from the idea of planks leaning together, perhaps less easy to see how the shapes are arrived at from a cone. In developing his idea from Slit, Phillip King took a sheet of card, bent it, drew chevrons on it and then twisted it to arrive at the point where the form could be broken. The cut shapes were then assembled by sitting one on top of another. Flattened, the six elements could be reassembled into one open sheet with a bend in the middle.

Slant was first painted green for an exhibition at the Rowan Gallery in Bruton Place in 1966. However, he changed the colour to red for an exhibition in Battersea Park, as he was worried about showing the green sculpture against grass. It has remained red ever since.

Phillip King came across arborite, the material from which Slant is constructed, when he was investigating plastics. It is like formica in substance, a hard plastic that can be machine cut and which is extremely durable. Arborite was manufactured in different colours, but not liking these, King painted the surface in matt eggshell paint, applied with a roller, to saturate the piece in strong colour. Soaking the atmosphere with colour gave resonance to the sculpture and suggests dancing and flowers opening.