Axioms/Idioms Images

Here are some images from our new exhibition Axioms/Idioms. I've only posted a few images as my camera has run out of batteries. Will post more soon...

Axioms/Idioms Exhibition

Join Hand Held Gallery and artists Melanie Wolfe and Lenni Morkel-Kingsbury for the opening of Axioms/Idioms July 2nd 6-8pm.

Axioms/Idioms:
a mapping of language/culture; history/memory; emotion/truth...

Artists’ statement

Maps and charts are propositions of truth. They are axioms that we accept as being, somehow, 
self evidently true.
 Stumbling through both real and imagined psychological geographies, 
we explore the subjective nature of language.
 Given the incongruities that exist between the map and what it represents, we discover that we are never exactly where we believe ourselves to be…

Mike Harrison's Stasis opened May 28th.

Stasis is a dramatic installation comprising of 194 suspended toy soldiers (one for each country of the world) suspended in 'Stasis' above a black terrain. 'This exhibition is not a protest of war, but an artistic representation of the way we are all tied together', Mike explains, 'Stasis is the suspension of time; a permanent point in history.' Running alongside the suspended soldiers is the poignant video image of a 'soldier' amid a desolate landscape. He too seems in a state of Stasis, neither victorious or defeated, his clenched hands and vacant stare are the indicators of his state of mind.

Tender Things

Paul Compton's 'Tender Things' opened April 30th with a great number of people crowding into our tiny space.
Paul's images make you laugh quietly and sigh loudly; intricately drawn with tiny pen and brushstrokes they are painfully familiar and inevitably cynical.
Six ink portraits greet you as you enter the gallery. They are tender depictions of friends, elegant and gentle, and a self portrait is nestled among the group.
On the shelves, four artist books are on display. Fallacies on Parade, Sombre Rainbow (pictured), Tender Things(pictured); a leather bound 10 page tea and coffee stained concertina book of fine ink drawings and Everyday Tragedies(pictured); a tattooed, leather bound tome of text and images. Also featured are Paul's Thaumatropes, old worldly optical illusions, mythic and darkly themed. The Ouija Board Spells Out: See you soon is the final piece; a morbidly kitsch Ouija board ---not that every Ouija board isn't morbidly kitsch!. Two of Paul's books (Fallacies on Parade and Everyday Tragedies) are available as zines or mooks (the first time I have heard this term but not the last time I will use it!) making it possible for all to take home and relish a piece of his work.

Tender Things

Paul Compton's, Tender Things opens this Thursday night(April 30th).

An exhibition that playfully explores the inherent fragility of objects, illusions and human lives. This collection of handmade books, objects and drawings combines droll cynicism with sincere empathy and hints at themes of the outsider, animism and nostalgia. Join us from 6-8pm. Exhibition continues until May 26.

Palm Reader Exhibition

To celebrate our 1st Birthday Hand Held invites artists to submit proposals or images for possible inclusion in a group exhibition. Book and object makers are invited to respond to the term 'Palm Reader'. Work can be in any medium or form. There will be a $20 entry fee for works selected into the exhibition. Peoples choice award on opening night will be granted a 2010 exhibition at Hand Held.
Proposals for Palm reader are now closed.

Ladders exhibition