Now then, it’s high time for a well deserved plug for a couple of upcoming Brisbane artists and their imminent exhibition, Assembling Worlds.

Warren Handley and Rachael Bartram, (respectively my ex-housemate and the designer of my wedding invitations) will be displaying a whole host of their new work at Juggler’s Art Space on Brunswick Street , Fortitude Valley from this Friday onwards. Having seen some exclusive promos I can safely say that everything is looking particularly fresh. However perhaps most exciting of all is the tantalising prospect of their hitherto unseen collaborations, which, if the taster examples are anything to go by, represent a perfect cohesion of their markedly different styles.

So as not to do either of them a disservice I figured it would be best to get a summary of their work from each of them to whet your appetites:

Hoichi

Accordingly Warren’s describes his current body of work “digitalscapelands” as – “digital explorations into the tangible and intangible. “I am interested in how we perceive space and form. How from the macro scale right down to the micro, certain forms visually reoccur throughout the universe. Similar to this idea of space and materiality, I’m interested in experimenting with the visual paradox between imagery that is digital and geometric yet organic and raw.”

Lost Girls (Tiger's Eye Sunrise)

Whilst Rachael gave this little snippet – “As I’ve found with the collage process, the creation of confusing, frightening, logic defying and even emotionally stirring settings is inevitable. With my current series, the preoccupation with storybook archetypes (such as cowboys, school girls etc) clashes with non-fictional visual settings. A series of warped scenes emerges as the cut-out images tell strange layered stories in a single frame.

My collection of old children’s books and National Geographic magazines (dating as far back as the 1930s) is a valuable resource for finding dramatic background images as well as numerous ‘young heroine’ archetypes. The old children’s books often focus on the quests of young, white females who become innocently involved in murder mysteries and war battles. However, even though these heroines are consistently portrayed as law abiding and respectful, they often come undone by their own naivety and general air-headedness. In one chapter they might wonder off into a jungle alone and follow a mysterious man into a trap, then in the next they could be winning a tennis tournament. Evidently this character template is a product of its era. Nevertheless, I find this ‘hollow heroine’ completely malleable in the collage process. Because once cut out away from the pages of the story, they evolve to take on a more contrasting and serious persona. “

Check out the Facebook event page for a bunch of promo images, some explanatory spiel and more specific details about exhibition opening night – featuring delicious beer and a set from the one like Walrii (Dank Morass) no less!