Welcome to the first of the FORA /squared series, a project begun in reaction to our current situations.
The FORA/squared series is an exercise in activating the beautiful window space that throws an oblique shoulder from the gunsmith’s alley at 75 Vulture St. The installations will rotate bi-monthly, with the first cat out of the ranks being Simone Handsley. This project is eternally grateful to the upstairs residents (Autumn Studio + Lance Montana) for lending this space.
Simone Handsley has been a consistent presence in the non-institutional Brisbane art space for some years now. Raised predominantly in Redcliffe, Handsley’s hyper-observant pieces draw from the micro-narratives the world presents us in our daily lives. Handsley’s point of difference is what she does to these narratives, and how she manipulates the traditional mediums of pen, acrylic, and oil to become tools of incisive commentary.
Her work is spiked with humour, but always resonates with tenderness, and a warmth that betrays her adoration for the world.
Her work is spiked with humour, but always resonates with tenderness, and a warmth that betrays her adoration for the world.
Handsley’s work embodies the concept of intertextual conversation, and often draws on off-beat pop culture, the wider arts sphere, or just a man sitting on a headland.
Pop Spiral (Crembrandt’s Desert Holiday) is a work of acrylic on ply. Working with gestures that suggest the undulations of the wood grain beneath, Handsley’s pastel creation reduces every backdrop into a sweep as it floats above each space it is installed with an observant, interactive air.
Join us as we stare at Simone’s work in the deep purple evening, and join us again for drinks and dancing at The End afterward.
More of Simone’s work can be found here.
For more info on FORA projects
pps/FORA is a physical and online hot space ARI. Based in Meanjin (Brisbane)
it is a diaristic publishing and portfolio space for the community.
it is a diaristic publishing and portfolio space for the community.
The name champions afterthought as valid thought, and public discussion as an essential puzzle piece
pps/FORA’s online presence can be found at ppsfora.com and ppsfora.substack.com
pps/FORA seeks to bring forward the intertextuality that we reside in, and the inextricable ways in which art and life are linked. That is an obvious point, but one that must be constantly remarked upon, as it is one we are constantly surprised by. To be reminded of these circles is to be drawn back into the fold, equipped with the tools of thinking critically and acting compassionately pps/FORA is developed on the land of the Jagera and Turrbal peoples.
pps/FORA seeks to bring forward the intertextuality that we reside in, and the inextricable ways in which art and life are linked. That is an obvious point, but one that must be constantly remarked upon, as it is one we are constantly surprised by. To be reminded of these circles is to be drawn back into the fold, equipped with the tools of thinking critically and acting compassionately pps/FORA is developed on the land of the Jagera and Turrbal peoples.
