Toy

John Chamberlain began to make abstract sculptures— both wall-mounted and freestanding—of painted, compressed automotive parts in the 1950s. Skillfully combining the vigorous gestures of Abstract Expressionism with the playful use of found materials and compositions of Dada and Surrealism, the artist took previously cast-off pieces of sheet metal and then crimped, bent, and cut the usually unyielding material into an imposing form. Toy is atypical in its incorporation of a Slip n’ Slide (a plastic waterslide first introduced in 1961); the work slyly suggests a classical relief and the motif of drapery.