Within 1979

Phillip King built "Within" out of wood and slate to make a three-dimensional puzzle, a game, and a place. I imagine him, in the studio, playing with this thing, trying different combinations, and trying to make something that is balanced, both physically and visually. There’s a playful quality to the assemblage and a sense of the artist finding his way through the material, letting the properties of the wood and slate dictate the form. Thinking about it, he might be thinking about architecture, but also about something more basic: how things fit together in nature. It is not just about the surface, but about building a structure that has depth and volume. What I like is that nothing matches, and yet it seems to hold together anyway. Like all artists, King is in a conversation, inspiring and being inspired by others, by nature, and by the simple pleasure of making.