MODICUS – THE FLOODED LIBRARY, new works from James McGrath.   In this exhibition of birds against paper and in ancient libraries, the artist uses the images of flooding books as a metaphor for knowledge in the digital age as well as hinting at the issues of climate change that threaten historical objects.

For James it is more aesthetic. He says “formally the organic curve of the heron’s neck and body is a wonderful juxtaposition to the grid of the books”.

How did his passion for books and libraries begin? He recounts “in an age dominated by ebooks and digital information I felt is important to find the origin of text, the book and the library. In 2010 I was granted special access to the Strahov monastic library in Prague. Centuries old, the books in the collection are hand bound in leather and preserved by rubbing layers of chalk and lime. The effect is the one of shelves of bone white cracked parchment which looks like ghost like apparitions of their origin.”

He writes “ after spending days on my own, I felt by a transient being amongst fixed knowledge that was almost palpable.”

Perhaps James McGrath’s message is simple, we must all get back loving books and libraries again. That simple, that hard.

MODICUS – THE FLOODED LIBRARY is showing 19 September – 7 October at Olsen Gallery, 63 Jersey Rd. Woollahra NSW 2025 Australia.