Changing Formact B

The dynamic arrangement of L-shaped units in Changing Formact B is carefully balanced with the unbroken square that dominates the left-hand side of the work. The relief is constructed from pieces of white-faced engravers plastic. When cut, the black core of this material is exposed, subtly emphasising the depth of the different elements of this shallow relief. As the spectator moves around Changing Formact B, the black edges of the L-shaped units come in and out of view.

Anthony Hill experimented with different configurations of the L-shaped units in a series of related reliefs in the 1970s, which were often informed by mathematical structures. [1] Hill described his process as putting abstract mathematical notions ‘to work’, by combining measured modulations with his own artistic decisions. [2]

The Sainsbury Centre Collection includes a drawing which maps out the arrangement of elements in Changing Formact B, see 31619.

Lisa Newby, March 2021

[1] See 31540 in the Sainsbury Centre Collection and Changing Formact A in the Tate Gallery Collection ‘Changing Formact A’, Anthony Hill, 1978–9 | Tate . For an overview of this series of works, see Alastair Grieve, ‘The development of Anthony Hill’s work from 1950 to the present’ in Anthony Hill, A Retrospective Exhibition, exh. cat. (London: Hayward Gallery, 1983), pp.56-8.

[2] Anthony Hill, ‘A View of Non-Figurative Art and Mathematics and an Analysis of a Structural Relief’, Leonardo, Volume 10, No.1 (Winter, 1977), pp.7-12, p.12.