Lot 1

The Artist
Private collection, Melbourne

"While books themselves may be inert, as the delivery vehicle for ideas, they have inspired some of the fiercest passions in history. If these books are religious tomes, the meaning would differ greatly if each represented different faiths, inextricable linked and referencing the next in a halo-like swirl. If they are books interpreting different versions of the same faith, then the meaning evolves into a rhetorical exploration of Circular Reasoning - in which the argument assumes it's central point is already proven, and using this in support of itself, goes around in circles. Conversely, these may be books of knowledge, with each referencing the next, to provide a new understanding based on science, reason and fact. And if works of fiction, with its passionate and devoted readership, the meaning alters again. But no matter what these texts contain, it is undeniable that with the digitisation of books for distribution via "the cloud", we are currently undergoing one of the most profound changes in the way information is disseminated and consumed since the printing of the Gutenberg Bible." (The Artist)

© Courtesy The Artist and Lennox St. Gallery