This colourful abstract construction piece, made to resemble children’s building blocks, is a representation of the ancient Mesopotamian temples called Ziggurats. Ziggurats were created as the dwelling place of the gods and only priests were allowed to enter. The stepped formation provided access from this world to the spiritual.
Tilson’s use of dots give a sense of texture but also reference a Pop art technique derived from those used in colour printing. The emboldened lettering adds the illusion of three dimensionality to the two-dimensional element of the painting.