Captive

Originally a carver, much of Inge King’s early work was made from wood, sandstone, marble and alabaster. Around 1960 she began to work in welded steel assemblage, and her abstract forms became even more experimental. Captive, in bronzed steel, features steel rods which form a cage around a central ‘figure’. King was interested in exploring the enclosed spaces within her sculpture, as well as the space in which the sculpture sits – of utmost importance in her large public works. The welded seams and surfaces were created with an arc welder for ‘decorative effect’ in an attempt to offset the austerity of large surfaces of flat steel, as well as to offset the perceived notion of steel as a cold, sharp material, a notion widely held by the public at that time.