His first book series, shown in 2005 at Nellie Castan Gallery, was inspired by the minimalist layouts of 1960s paperbacks. All 'authored' by versions of Chris Bond, the twenty different titles often had a note of pessimism, such as The Probability of Defeat and Burden of Failure. Ostensibly about creative struggle, there is a personal note as well, in that his partner, Michelle Guglielmo was suffering from cancer at the time (leading to her untimely death in 2006). However, in the end the books are more about artifice than confession, and are open to interpretation.

Since his residency at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces (2001-03), Bond has used fictional devices of various kinds to question the supposed 'truths' of art. The painted books themselves evolved out of a series of canvases, mostly titled Abstract Remnant (2003-05). In these works the classic covers of Penguin paperbacks, originally inspired by abstract art, are recast as elegant hard-edge paintings. However, like relics from an ancient past, they appear time-stained and eroded with cracks. These formalist compositions are given a layering of nostalgia, ironically subverting the utopian values of high modernism.

Like noted conceptual artist Marcel Broodthaers, Bond also uses museum displays to explore ideas of authenticity and cultural value. In The Hitchcock/Feldmar Affair (2002) a number of realistically aged memos from a security guard to the film director tell a story of growing paranoia, leading to murder. Similar wry humour is found in his invented episodes from the peripheries of art history. The Imaginary Structure series shown at Heide Museum of Modern Art in 2003, is by 'Edith Mayfield', an early 20th century outsider artist, who 'experienced a number of prophetic visions that bear a strong similarity to the existing Heide buildings' (1). More recently, the curator 'Brant Haslough' has presented an unusual archeological display - painted Scandinavian light bulbs that cross modernist aesthetics with traditional pagan ritual (2).

NEW08 at ACCA included the installation Mirrorworld (2008). Here the familiar is made uncanny, with the exact pairing of multiple everyday objects. In this fictional symmetry there is unity in diversity. Another gathering of parts is suggested by the six paintings in Chris Bond's recent show, White (2008). Triangular shapes of transparent white are layered over raw linen, like shards of glass. Where they overlap they dissolve together as the whiteness intensifies. Based on random permutations of a basic design, the images reflect the uncertainty of form and meaning. Yet these works are somehow more hopeful than before, as though composed of fragments from which something new can be built.

Jason Beale 2008

Notes
1. From a talk by Chris Bond at CAE, Melbourne in July 2008.
2. Discover Scandinavia presents: In a Northern Light: painted light globes from Alajarvi, Finland (2008) was shown at RMIT Faculty of Art Gallery, Melbourne in October 2008.

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