During the 1950s William Turnbull began to feel that much contemporary art was becoming mannered, too concerned with effect. He decided, therefore, that the only way to make meaningful work was to rethink the process from the start. Beginning with a void (in sculpture) or a blank (in painting), his works were built up from elementary forms or marks. In sculpture this resulted in works like this one, which has a very open, flattened structure, comprising clearly defined shapes. The overall character of the work can be grasped immediately. The shapes also define the intervals between them, making space an element in the composition.