Tom Phillips, A Humument: Page 18

On page 18 of Tom Phillips’ A Humument, Phillips suggests that art is the balance which keeps humans in the real world and not in the dream world. He uses reflections of the writing in order to portray the different sides to reality. The clear side being reality and the unclear, background of the painting, representing the dream world in which is uncertain to people. Also, the colors which are used are many shades of yellow and orange in which seem to transcend and become darker as one looks deeper in the painting.

What one’s eyes are drawn to first in the painting is the orange steak which begins from the top right and continues down to the bottom left. This is one of the darkest parks of the painting and it is also the part of the painting in which the writing is on. The writing follows the steak from top to bottom and for the most part stays within the orange streak. One’s attention then begins to slip into the background of the picture. What is seen is more writing which varies from being in different positions, even being upside down. Most of what is written is not easily readable because they seem to be darkened and smudged but some parts can be distinguished to be the same writing that follows the orange streak.

The background imagines, which are darker, are opposites of the imagines which seem to be closer to the viewer of the painting. The background is dark and hard to distinguish. The imagines that seem to be in the front are brighter and easier to look at. The darker yellow versus the brighter yellow are contrasting colors which represent two different sides to art, the world, and people’s minds. The darker colors show the uncertainty people retain in their thoughts and the brighter colors represent what people know and feel comfortable with.

People tend to be scared of what they are uncertain about. They like to know everything that is going on around them. Knowing one’s surrounding helps them feel comfortable with where they are and what they are doing. The background of this painting is created in order to keep the viewer away. The painting in a sense helps keep the viewers from venturing off into the dream world that is created. The viewer instead stays in between the boundaries created by the orange streak which is the brighter part of the painting. This is where the words lay. This is where the viewer gains more knowledge of what is going on and therefore is more comfortable.

The writing begins on the top right of the orange streak. “Venture on a piece of sleep I am going to shut the door, art…” The door represents two sides of reality and the dream world. Sleep is mentioned and while one sleeps they dream. Possibilities are endless in the dream world. Whether it’s literal or not, uncertainty is not widely accepted. Art on the other side shows the reality of the world. Feeling comfortable with oneself and one’s surrounding is ideal. But sometimes other items draw us to what is unknown. “As an art curiosity art surprise begins to rest in sleepy gold initials…” The curiosity may bring people closer to the unknown. But of course fear can outweigh it, causing people to retreat. Art with its “gold initials” show its value. Being a part of everyday life and helping people have a balance has created it into a valuable necessity, affecting many people. “thus toge that gentleman in the passage of time was, indeed, the English- the English.” Now, toge, the main character is mentioned along with time. Time could be seen as bad, good, or possibly neither. Here, time represents how one can spend all their life in the dream world and not in reality. Living in the dream world is not what people may want. Though it may seem good being able to live in a dream surrounding, reality does not disappear. The affect of reality can be damaging if not handled properly, thus the dream world having a bad affect on anybody. But art, or the bright colors in the painting, help maintain people in reality so one does not end up in a world in which they believe is true but is actually a dream.

The painting overall is created in a way that darkness is kept in the background and brightness is brought foreword. Darkness is unwanted so it is kept as far away as possible. The bright colors shine with great affect, drawing viewers closer to it. As the viewers are drawn to the bright colors, they go away from the dark colors. The paintings goal is achieved by fear for the unknown. Being comfortable is what people like to feel and it is what the bright colors bring them and it is what keeps them in reality.