Formed in 2008, Greatest Hits is a collective comprising Gavin Bell, Jarrah de Kuijer and Simon McGlinn. Their work for Melbourne Now fuses two well-known tropes: maneki-neko, a Japanese lucky charm in the form of a ‘beckoning cat’, and the western representation of the black cat as ill omen. By simultaneously inviting and shunning good fortune, the artwork’s message becomes paradoxical. This voiding of meaning is a way for the artists to comment on the numbing effects of exposure to excessive information, a common conundrum in our information saturated lives.
