Description
Book SynopsisA two-volume publication on the mysterious object that inspired poetry, art and unlikely artistic collaborations
For nearly five decades a peculiar wooden object called the Slant Step was exchanged between artists from coast to coast, developing a cultlike following and inspiring poetry, art and unlikely collaborations. Artist William T. Wiley first came upon the original object at a salvage store in Northern California in 1965. Covered in worn green linoleum, it looked like a footstool; however, its sharp slanted riser mystified Wiley and Bruce Nauman, his student at the University of California, Davis. Wiley purchased the found object and gifted it to Nauman, who maintained possession over it until Richard Serra absconded with it from San Francisco to New York. In 1969, Sacramento artist Phil Weidman surveyed the first years of the Slant Step in an artist's book that featured contributions by Nauman, Wiley, William Allan, Richard C., Jack Edwards, Jack Fulto
