Adam Handler, born in 1986 studied “Life Drawing” in Italy and received a degree from Purchase College in New York. He also studied craft design with Jorge Nieves and color photography with Debra Mesa-Pelly. Adam Handler’s work has been exhibited in New York, Greenwich CT, Canada and Texas. 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 figures, such as bats, ghosts, and wide-eyed girls, embody an innocence and youthful energy that even the best artists would say is nearly 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 pastels, pencil and markers, Adam Handler’s childlike and passionate drawing technique creates distinct, contoured characters that appear almost flat, with little to no depth of field. The backgrounds of his works are highly detailed but rough, energetically drawn with scratches and marks that seem to spill over the edge of the canvas, giving a hasty and improvised feel. The work of Willem De Kooning helped Adam Handler have an aha moment: a figure doesn’t have to look like a figure, but can reflect the characteristics of a figure. Handler’s large-scale, imaginative figures connect the viewer with a sense of warm nostalgia or even a memory of days long past.
“I dream to always remain playful.”
Adam Handler – 아담 핸들러
As a young child, Adam Handler spent a lot of time at his grandparents’ frame factory in New York City, where he remembers artistic seeds being planted. By combining earth tones and pastels and playing with scale, Adam Handler seeks to return to that original starting point, asking the viewer to shed the weight of time and truly question perception. The artist’s work is deeply autobiographical, inspired by his deep love for his wife, mother and grandmother. Adam Handler’s work has been exhibited internationally, notably in the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
Adam Handler by Tara Sgroi.