Canto XXXII: [no title] 1983

Curator: Esq Tom Phillips, born in 1937, created this print, an untitled piece from his *Canto XXXII* series, now held in the Tate Collections. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: A chaotic collision of colour! The lower half feels submerged, a swirling dreamscape, while the top is neatly segmented, almost clinical. Curator: It's fascinating how Phillips juxtaposes these distinct zones. I wonder about the materials and layering processes used to achieve these contrasting effects. The texture in the lower portion is particularly compelling, likely achieved through careful manipulation of the printing plate. Editor: The birds! They suggest freedom, escape even. Their presence juxtaposed with the chaotic underwater scene below feels symbolic, perhaps a yearning for transcendence. Curator: And the flat blocks of color, reminiscent of commercial printing techniques, disrupt any easy reading of symbolism. Phillips often plays with the tension between mass production and individual expression. Editor: Perhaps the birds represent a spiritual aspiration set against the messy reality of earthly existence. Curator: A plausible reading, complicated by the work's material construction itself. It reminds us that even spiritual symbols are filtered through the lens of human making. Editor: It's a piece that holds both darkness and a strange hopefulness, doesn't it? Curator: Indeed, a potent blend of the ethereal and the tangible.