Page 59 - Studio International - July 1966
P. 59
William King artists to join the faculty. This invitation to show at
Left Feeling good 1966 Cast bronze Height 6 in. Berkeley Gallery (a co-operative which occasionally in-
Right, vinyl figures, 1966 Max. height 10 ft vites non-members) afforded the first local showing of his
Both Berkeley Gallery, San Francisco, courtesy of
Terry Dinrenfass Gallery, New York work, a valuable experience of a sensibility vastly differ-
ent from that produced by the local climate. Unlike any-
one working here in sculpture, King brings to his art a
modern wit, a frank irony utterly devoid of the morbidity
which tinges the humour of West Coast art. It is rare,
too, to see anywhere sculpture of so contemporary a cast
engaged in portraiture, and this is King's only concern.
In this exhibition, recent works in vinyl and bronze
were shown, as well as a number of self-portrait water-
colours and drawings. While King has made portraits of
particular individuals in wood, metal and ceramic (he
was among the first in New York to paint his sculpture—
the ceramic portraits), the present portraits are of social
types or 'states of being'. The vinyl figures are all of a
piece : it is their fashion to wear their heads and arms as
they do their clothing, and their hair and shoes match.
Standing with arms akimbo on long stiff legs, differen-
tiated only by the slightest gesture of a leg or bend of the
body or head, their stances nevertheless convey accurately
those gestures by which we define aspects of human
existence — the curious, timid, belligerent one, tender,
lonely. Bigger than life-size, they are yet drawn to
human scale, and if you can walk under the legs of Red
anxious, it is no Colossus looking down on you. The
Two aspects of James Melchert's Silvery heart 1965
Fired clay, coloured Height 14 in. Hansen Galleries, San Francisco
