Canto XXX: [no title] 1983

Curator: This is Esq Tom Phillips’ “Canto XXX: [no title]”, currently part of the Tate Collections. Editor: It looks like a fading memory. Rows of these coin-like shapes...they give off a very subdued, almost melancholic vibe. Curator: Phillips' work often plays with found texts and images. This piece uses a grid format which can be seen to reference seriality and perhaps mass production. Editor: I'm curious about the change in tone from top to bottom, like time eroding an image. It feels representative of something disappearing. Curator: It could be a comment on the ephemerality of images, or the unreliability of memory. Or perhaps both. Editor: It's really got me thinking about what we choose to remember, and what just... fades away.