Adam Handler American, b. 1986

Childlike simplicity, quirky, colorful, primitive––these are just a few words to describe the extraordinary talent of New York-born painter Adam Handler. His recognizable characters such as bats, ghosts, and wide-eyed girls embody innocence and adolescent energy that the very best of artists will tell you is close to impossible to render with fresh authenticity. Pablo Picasso said it best: “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” 

Using acrylic paint, oil stick, pencil, and markers, Handler’s child-like and passionate drawing technique produces distinctive outlined characters which almost appear flat, with little to no depth of field. The backgrounds of his works are highly detailed, but rough, vigorously drawn with scratches and markings that appear to spill over the edge of the canvas, conveying a hurried and improvised feeling. Willem De Kooning’s works provided Handler with an “ah-ha” moment: a figure does not have to look like a figure, but can rather reflect the qualities of one. Handler’s large-scale imaginative figures connect viewers to a feeling of warm nostalgia, or even a sense-memory from days long ago.