[no title] 1970

Curator: This small, untitled image by Esq Tom Phillips presents us with a puzzle of text and form. It’s held in the Tate collections and appears to be a print, though the exact processes used are unconfirmed. Editor: It’s whimsical, almost like a page torn from a surreal atlas. The muted colors and fragmented phrases give it a melancholic yet playful mood. Curator: Note the phrases like “strange day ago” and “like a wandering flower, the whole world among he.” The positioning and selection of words evoke a cyclical sense of time, a contemplative mood relating to the self and the world. Editor: The circular shape, intersected by what looks like color-coded landmasses, reminds me of the divisions we impose on the natural world through cartography and language itself. Curator: Precisely, the medium and layout invites us to reconsider the way language shapes our comprehension and view of the world. Editor: It makes you think about the very labor of reading, of constructing meaning from disparate parts. A deceptively simple piece.