WORKS
C.V.

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Notes


June 28, 2025

Process - OPEN STUDIO
Praça de Lisboa
Porto / Jun 29 - Jul 22, 2025

by appointment

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August 9, 2025

Undrawn - EXHIBITION
Wustrow
Wendland, Germany / Aug 9-22, 2025

Kunst im Wald. Wald in der Kunst

Excerpt:

...here, drawing is understood not as mark-making, but as a practice of both freedom and restraint. Not drawing becomes a form of attention. It is an unlearning of the impulse to narrate, to rationalise, to conclude. To be undrawn is not to be incomplete, but to remain undetermined — voluntarily.

Kunst im Wald. Wald in der Kunst — not as a pairing, but as a folding-in, is an exhibition without enclosure. This work does not seek to add more images to the world. Instead, it rests in renunciation: of the need to illustrate. Here, there is no narrative to follow, no action to interpret. The artist invites viewers not to consume a spectacle, but to encounter a series of thresholds...


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C.V.


William Handley
Napier, New Zealand, 1981
Vive e trabalha | Lives and works:
Porto, Portugal


Formacao | Education:

2018  Sculpture, FBAUP, Universidade do Porto
2004  Architecture, Victoria University,
      Wellington, Unitec, Auckland


Exposições Individuais | Solo Shows:

2025  Reduction, open studio, Porto
2022  Postscript, Atelier Concorde, Lisbon
2021  Plant Data, Galeria da Biodiversidade
      MHNC–UP, Museu de História Natural
      e da Ciência da Universidade do Porto
2019  Continuity Forum, Galeria do Sol, Porto
2019  Learning without language, RDC516, Porto
2019  Omega, Artes, Mota Galiza, Porto
2016  Sponsored Content, Century, London
2014  Notable Outcomes, Sanderson, Auckland
2008  Re:Vision, Sanderson, Auckland
2007  Opening, City Art Rooms, Auckland
2006  I am why, Sanderson, Auckland


Exposições Colectivas | Group Shows:

2024  Super Natural Voices, Mono, Lisbon
      with Alice dos Reis, Daniel Godínez Nivón,
      Joana Patrão, Rosanna Helena Bach and
      Solimán López. Curated by Jule Kurbjeweit
2023  Human is a Cosmic Plant, Frappant, Hamburg
      with Lukas Kindermann and Paula König
      Curated by Judith Hofer
2022  myoo-choo-uh-liz-uhm, Espaço Pontes,
      Fundão with Inês Teles. Curated by Dose
2021  Trauma Response, Duplex AIR, Lisbon
      with Catarina Simão, Filipe Cortez,
      Juliana Matsumura, Maria Máximo, Marie
      Antoinette and Theodore Ereira-Guyer
      Curated by Judith Hofer
2019  Omega, Via Aberta, Mota Galiza, Porto
      with Xavier Paes
2019  VIA ABERTA, Mota Galiza, Porto
      with Aglaíze Damasceno, Alisa Heil,
      Ana Pérez-Quiroga, André Alves,
      António Lago, Artristas (Joana Ribeiro,
      Gonçalo Araújo, Miguel Ângelo), Avelino
      Sá, Celeste Cerqueira, Cláudia Lopes,
      Cristina Regadas, Cubranco, Felícia
      Teixeira and João Brojo, Fernando
      Sebastião, Filipa Araújo, Filipe Cortez,
      Francisco Babo, Francisco Laranjeira,
      José Almeida Pereira, Joana Dark e
      Vidente Cego, José Oliveira, Josep Maynou,
      Luísa Abreu, Luísa Mota, Manuel Santos
      Maia, Maria Sottomayor, Mauro Cerqueira,
      Max Fernandes, Nettie Burnett, Nuno
      Ramalho, Parva Música, Paulo Lisboa,
      Paulo Mendes, Porto Post Doc, Ricardo
      Bueno, Sérgio Leitão, Silvestre Pestana,
      Sónia Carvalho, Tales Frey, Vera Mota,
      Vítor Israel
      Curated by Luísa Mota, José Maia,
      José Almeida Pereira e José Oliveira
2019  TQMS, Two Queens, Leicester
      with Bogdan Anda, Lucy Andrews, Gino
      Attwood, James Chantry, Daniel Cowlam,
      Penny Davis, Jane Domingos, Mateus
      Domingos, Luke Elson, Johnny Green,
      Jack Halford, Les Hayden, Tim Hardman,
      Sam Harriman, Austin Higgins, Leila
      Houston, Kate Jackson, Kerry Jackson,
      Khush Kali, Julie Kilminster, Daniel
      Sean Kelly, Ashok Mistry, Tim Neath,
      Tony Walker and Emma Willis
2015  5 floors 18 artists, Century, London
      Leo Babsky, BJ Broekhuizan, Jessica Dolby,
      Clare Hoddinott, Cat Ingrams, Gala Knorr,
      Inga Loyeva, Antonia Mckenzie, Samantha
      Mogelonsky, Bethany Murray, Simao
      Romualdo, Brendan Murphy, Jane Elizabeth
      Smith, Rikki Turner, Su Wang, Mary Yacoob
      and Jwan Yosef
2014  Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne
2010  Tape Modern No.13, Tape Modern, Berlin
      Guillaume Airiaud, Maxime Ballesteros,
      Patrick Cierpka, Dominique Faix, Marcus
      Knupp, Alexa Kreissl, Roman Kutzowitz,
      Melanie Manchot, Nik Nowak, Anton
      Stoianov, Tulip Enterprise, Ulrich Vogl,
      Kandis Williams and Christopher Winter.
      Curated by Amir Fattal
2008  Unlimited, City Art Rooms, Auckland
      with Cat Auburn, Kevin Capon, Liyen Chong,
      Scott Eady, Gill Gatfield, Young Sun Han,
      Sam Hartnett, John Hurrell, Matt Molloy,
      Jessica Pearless and Kate Woods
      Video works: Jill Kennedy, Owen Leong
      Curated by Young Sun Han
2008  Bridge Art Fair, OTA Berlin
      with Cat Auburn, Kevin Capon, Liyen Chong,
      Scott Eady, Gill Gatfield, Young Sun Han,
      Sam Hartnett, John Hurrell, Matt Molloy,
      Jessica Pearless and Kate Woods.
      Curated by Young Sun Han
2008  Auckland Art Fair, Auckland
2007  Summer Exhibition, Sanderson, Auckland
      Curated by Tamara Darragh
2006  POP, Sanderson, Auckland
      Curated by Tamara Darragh


Residências | Residencies:

2021  AE Residency, Faculty of Science
      University of Porto, Portugal
2020  Mobility Research Residency, Cripta747
      Turin, Italy
2019  Data Research Residency
      Laboratory of Plant Ecology
      Ghent, Belgium


Resenhas E Artigos Selecionados
| Selected Reviews & Articles:


2023  A humanização da autonomia de uma máquina
      Essay by Sara Magno, ARTECAPITAL
      Published Dec–1
2022  myoo-choo-uh-liz-uhm, KUBAPARIS
      Published Oct–3
2021  Plant Data, Plant Communication
      Essay by Alice Bonnot, Contemporary Hum
      Published Jul–22


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Biografia | Biography:

William Handley (b. 1981, Aotearoa New Zealand) is a visual artist living and working in Porto, Portugal. His practice of drawing, painting, and sculpture is rooted in the study of form, line, and emptiness, informed by an ongoing dialogue with Eastern philosophies and Zen Buddhism. Grounded in both conceptual inquiry and embodied making, his work investigates the drawn and the undrawn, the occupied and the unoccupied—approaching art production through the lens of “non-narrative expression.”

Since 2006, Handley’s practice has encompassed painting, conceptual, environmental and activist projects, sound works, and more recently, reductionist and minimalist forms. His early foundation in painting (2006–2014) evolved into a ten-year period of conceptually driven and collaborative work, culminating in the development of the anonymous, process-based platform Yota Ayaan (2019–2024). These years marked a development of his interest in chance, impermanence, and the poetics of interbeing—central tenets in his philosophical inquiry.

His current work returns to drawing as a non-narrative act, through sparse, monochromatic gestures and minimal interventions, Handley invites a condition of openness rather than resolution. Informed by the rigorous study of emptiness and the spaces between, his practice positions the body as both instrument and observer. Emphasizing process over product and attention over assertion, his work resists narrative closure in favour of experiential openness—foregrounding the quiet, the subtle, and the unseen. He is an aspirant of the monastic Order of Interbeing (Tiep Hien) and continues to explore the integration of artistic practice and ethical engagement.

Handley has been an artist-in-residence at the Faculty of Science, FCUP, University of Porto, Portugal (2021); awarded a Mobility Research Residency at Cripta747, Turin, Italy (2020); and completed a Research Residency on Data of Acoustic Emissions at the Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Belgium (2019).

His work has been shown in exhibitions including: Super Natural Voices, Mono Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal (2024); Human is a Cosmic Plant, Frappant e.V., Hamburg, Germany (2023); Postscript, Atelier Concorde, Lisbon, Portugal (2022); myoo-choo-uh-liz-uhm, Espaço Pontes, Fundão, Portugal (2022); Plant Data, Galeria da Biodiversidade, MHNC-UP, Porto, Portugal (2021); Duplex AIR, Lisbon, Portugal (2021); Two Queens, Leicester, United Kingdom (2019); Century, London, United Kingdom (2015, 2016); Melbourne Art Fair, Australia (2014); Tape Modern, Berlin, Germany (2010); City Art Rooms, Auckland, New Zealand (2008); Bridge Art Fair, Berlin, Germany (2008); Auckland Art Fair, New Zealand (2007, 2008); and Sanderson Contemporary, Auckland, New Zealand (2006–2014).


Atelier | Studio:

Praça de Lisboa, Porto, 4050-161
Portfolio available on request


Contactos | Contact:

willhandleyart @ gmail.com


Links:

Order of Interbeing (OI), Tiep Hien
https://orderofinterbeing.org/

Yota Ayaan
https://yotaayaan.org/











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