THE MAGIC SQUARE
This book refers back to Durer's etching, Melancolia, itself replete with mathematical symbols. On the wall of the building in the Durer image is a magic square, one in which the value within the 16 equal subdivisions will always give the same total which ever vertical, horizontal or diagonal quartet are combined. The artist's 'homage' is a completely white book of simple embossed lines, again using the cover to state the terms of the whole. As before the circle and triangle are housed within the square, the whole being demarcated into the 16 subdivisions of the magic square. The song which completes itself inside the leperello is contained within a series of squares, each housing a flow of lines and raised and flattened surfaces representing the 16 subsections of the cover. The first image represents the number 1 of the magic square, the second image the number 2 and so on.
  • The book as a leperello or concertina fold is the simplest form of sculptural book, and contains 16 embossed images on 270 gsm Moulin du Gue paper.
  • Size of the book: 18 by 18 cm.
  • Edition of 12 copies only, all signed by the artist.
  • Printed in London and published by WASP Editions in 1995
  • Price £ 200.
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