Phillip King (b. 1934, Tunis, d. 2021, London) played a vital role in changing the face of British sculpture. His dissatisfaction with figurative, post-war, expressionistic sculpture of the 1950s led him to experiment with abstraction, construction, material and colour, a pursuit he sustained over the course of a career spanning six decades.

This feature-length documentary film directed by award-winning director Gerald Fox charts a journey over a momentous year with the late British sculptor as he develops a large-scale commission for the sculpture park at Kistefos Museum in Norway and prepares for a major retrospective at Tate Britain.

Shot almost entirely handheld, this very personal film observes King at length at home and in his studio, offering rare and exclusive insights into the sculptor’s creative process and hands-on approach to making art. Footage of work in progress in the studio is juxtaposed with intimate conversations between King and his professional peers and gallerists. Interviews with art curators and scholars including Nicholas Serota, Clarrie Wallis, and Chris Stephens expand on King’s pivotal role in the development of contemporary British sculpture and his pioneering use of colour and novel materials, from fibreglass to polyurethane.

This film gives us an opportunity to closely observe of one of the great sculptors of recent decades over a sustained period as he devotes himself to a late career flourish, sculpting dynamic new works in vibrant colour.

The screening will be preceded by an introduction by director Gerald Fox.

Phillip King: Sculpting in Colour, 2014
Directed by Gerald Fox

Wednesday 17 April 2024, 6.30pm

Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Mall
London
SW1Y 5AH