Charlotte Handy presents balanced tranquil compositions that belie the constant state of flux simmering beneath the luminous watery surface. She excels in dissolving perspective, blurring the point between reality and the imagined.

Through an ever-present cross motif, the picture plane is dissected into merging and subtle overlapping geometries. Variously interpreted as a symbol of faith, a navigational reference, a ships mast, this cross-like ‘flag of place’ ambiguously pinpoints an exact position existing without place. (1)

“Her works map dreamscapes; they are the paintings of a self-exiled New Zealander whose eyes comb a phantasmal body of water for evidence of something specific, something familiar.” (2)

1. Charlotte Handy, Artist statement, 2006.
2. David Eggleton, “The Sea Inside,” New Zealand Listener, December 16, 2006.