Perhaps MacPherson’s most instantly recognisable works belong to his ‘Mayfair’ series, including QAGOMA’s Mayfair: (Swamp Rats) Ninety-Seven Signs for C.P., J.P., B.W., G.W. & R.W. 1994-94 (illustrated). It taps into the hand-painted blackboard roadside signs that appear on the verges of our regional highways –the white-on-masonite words that alert us to, for example, the block ice and bait to be found 500, then 250, metres along the road. This random and poetic and wonderfully ironic exploration of the amateur sign-maker’s art elevates the ‘Mayfair’ series beyond the vernacular and enables it to cross over into the lingua franca of the contemporary art world. This use of amateur roadside signs as a locus of meaning and a source of cultural knowledge, combined with his deep affection for the universality of language, gave him an unerring ability to define an Australian idiom.