Smith was a key figure in the British development of Pop Art. By 1970 when this work was executed, Smith was primarily concerned with the examination of the two-dimensional nature of painting and was experimenting in both his oils and his works on paper with extending the paint surface out into a three-dimensional space. In this work we see the added extensions in collage (the ‘three tongues’) to the normal rectangular format. The large scale is testament to the influence of advertising in Smith's late 60s and early 70s works. This work was made in the same year that Richard Smith represented Great Britain at the XXXV Venice Biennale, with a solo show in the British Pavilion. Smith was chosen by a committee of art experts, who were Director of Tate Norman Reid, art historian Alan Bowness, art collector David Thompson, the British Council’s Lilian Somerville and art historian Norbert Lynton. It was a hugely defining period in Smith's career, including the creation of his sculpture-cum-paintings 'Waterfall', 'Triangular' (both in the collection of Tate, London) and Sphinx Series (British Council), before he began developments towards his Kite Series in 1971.