toward the end of time

There was a lot to enjoy at the Melbourne art fair this month. But I just can’t get Chris Bond’s hilarious paintings of fictitious book covers out of my head. Not many artists make style their subject but Bond mimics the graphic design fashions of the period – that’s any period from the 20th century – with such aplomb you’d never guess it wasn’t the real deal. Take “Toward the end of time” for instance. It is an oil painting of the torn and dog-eared cover of an art catalogue. The treatment of the type – particularly the wide kearning of the title, a box around the author’s name and the faux photoshop image of… what is that? A stock library photo of fibre optics? – date the catalogue to 1998. Bond, clever cookie, made it this year.