Adam Handler
Blooming Girl, 2022
Oil stick and acrylic on canvas
52 x 52 in
(132.1 x 132.1 cm)
(132.1 x 132.1 cm)
Signed and dated on verso Adam Handler’s dream-like paintings reference a variety of art historical sources, ranging from the rich traditions of Abstract Expressionists like Willem DeKooning to the self-taught...
Signed and dated on verso
Adam Handler’s dream-like paintings reference a variety of art historical sources, ranging from the rich traditions of Abstract Expressionists like Willem DeKooning to the self-taught genius of artists like Bill Traylor. Handler’s paintings deftly balance the skilled and the naïve. Yet Handler remixes these traditions with a world of fantasy and unease all his own. On one hand, his enchanting figures evoke kawaii, Japan’s culture of cuteness, floating in highly patterned, kaleidoscopic environments. Yet, they also point toward our inner yearning for the raw emotional states of adolescence. Handler’s paintings are ultimately maximalist odes to the imagination, populated with psychedelic gardens and surreal spirits.
Paintings like Blooming Girl (2022) capture Handler’s range of depicting his idiosyncratic characters’ emotional states. As Handler explains, “Nostalgia most definitely plays a role in the creation of my work. I try to invoke the raw uninhibited emotion one experiences as a child and teenager.” Handler's Blooming Girl is agitated and energetic, she’s in a state of anxious action, activated with colorful scribbles, as if Basquiat met manga. Her makeup and the flowers blooming all around her bely a placidity at odds with the frenzied motion coursing across her body. Adam Handler allows these dualities to coexist seamlessly.
Adam Handler’s dream-like paintings reference a variety of art historical sources, ranging from the rich traditions of Abstract Expressionists like Willem DeKooning to the self-taught genius of artists like Bill Traylor. Handler’s paintings deftly balance the skilled and the naïve. Yet Handler remixes these traditions with a world of fantasy and unease all his own. On one hand, his enchanting figures evoke kawaii, Japan’s culture of cuteness, floating in highly patterned, kaleidoscopic environments. Yet, they also point toward our inner yearning for the raw emotional states of adolescence. Handler’s paintings are ultimately maximalist odes to the imagination, populated with psychedelic gardens and surreal spirits.
Paintings like Blooming Girl (2022) capture Handler’s range of depicting his idiosyncratic characters’ emotional states. As Handler explains, “Nostalgia most definitely plays a role in the creation of my work. I try to invoke the raw uninhibited emotion one experiences as a child and teenager.” Handler's Blooming Girl is agitated and energetic, she’s in a state of anxious action, activated with colorful scribbles, as if Basquiat met manga. Her makeup and the flowers blooming all around her bely a placidity at odds with the frenzied motion coursing across her body. Adam Handler allows these dualities to coexist seamlessly.