2021. 12. 1 - 2022. 1. 28 Opening Hours : Mon - Sun, AM 10:00 - PM 18:00 (상기 전시 중에는 주말 오픈합니다.)
“라파엘처럼 그림을 그리는 데는 4년이 걸렸지만, 아이처럼 그리는 데 평생이 걸렸다.”
파블로 피카소의 말이다. 어린 아이의 시선은 티 없이 맑고 자유로우며, 편견에 사로 잡혀 있지 않다. 그들은 세상의 고정된 가치관이나 관습, 그리고 규율에 얽매이지 않는다. 그래서 세상의 틀에 맞춰 변해버린 우리가 어린 아이들의 시선을 완전히 이해하기란 생각보다 쉽지 않다. 그들의 시선은 우리들로 하여금 잊어버린 순수함을 상기해주곤 한다. 이를 다시 상기하고 발현하는 일만큼 어려운 일은 없다. 아담 핸들러는 아이들의 천진난만한 시선으로 자신만의 세상을 그려내는 아티스트이다. 이것이 바로 최고의 아티스트들이 이야기하는 ‘신선한 진정성’이다.
뉴욕 퀸즈에서 태어나 이탈리아에서 라이프 드로잉을 공부하고 뉴욕으로 돌아와 미술사를 마친 아담 핸들러는 유년시절 뉴욕에 있는 조부모의 액자 공장에서 많은 시간을 보내며 일찌감치 예술 작품을 가장 가까이에서 보아왔다. 이는 아들, 아내, 어머니, 할머니와 같은 가족에 대한 가장 원초적인 사랑으로부터 영감을 받아 펼쳐낸 자서전적인 느낌이 강한 이유이기도 하다. 단순함, 변덕스러움, 화려함, 원시성은 아담 핸들러의 작품 세계를 묘사하기 좋은 키워드다. 박쥐, 곤충, 유령 등이 그의 작업의 소재로 자주 등장한다. 이러한 캐릭터들은 작가 스스로 끊임없이 숙고했던 어린 시절의 향수와 자기 탐험에 대한 지속적인 표현의 피사물이다. 캔버스와 종이 위에 펴바른 아크릴 물감과 오일 스틱, 연필 및 마커의 흔적은 독특한 윤곽의 캐릭터를 만들어 낸다. 그의 그림에는 누구나 어린시절 해 봤을 법한 크레용 드로잉을 떠올리게 하는 순수함으로 가득 차 있다. 캔버스 가장자리 위로는 흘러내리는 듯한 즉흥성은 다소 거칠게 느껴져, 작품의 질감에 생생함을 더한다.
이번 전시는 아담 핸들러가 한국 개인전을 위해 준비한 ‘고스트’ 시리즈와 ‘고스트 납치’ 시리즈 신작이 주를 이룬다. 고스트 캐릭터는 ‘고스트 납치’ 시리즈에 있어 UFO와 필연적인 운명을 메타포적으로 표현한 매개체이다. 아담 핸들러는 스스로 이렇게 말한다. “어린이는 관객을 위한 미술이 아닌 스스로를 위한 창작을 한다. 예술을 하는 행위는 순수한 마음과 공간에서 오며 삶 사이사이의 사랑과 고통들이 나의 원동력이 된다.”
“It took me four years to paint like Raphael but a lifetime to paint like a child.” – by Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso said it best. A child views the world with clarity and liberty without prejudice. His world is free from social conventions, values, or rules. Transformed to fit the framework of the world, adults find it difficult to fully understand the viewpoint of young children, but children’s viewpoint can remind them of their forgotten youth and innocence. Yet, nothing is harder than bringing out that past that we adults have left behind. The artist Adam Handler sees the world through children’s eyes and paints in his own world. The best artists of our time found “fresh authenticity” from his artworks.
Adam Handler was born in Queens, NYC and grew up on Long Island. He studied Life Drawing in Italy and went on to graduate from Purchase College in N.Y. with a major in Art History. As a young child and adolescent, he spent countless hours at his grandparents’ framing factory in NYC. This explains why Handlers works show the autobiographical nature inspired by his primal love for his family members, his son, wife, mother, and grandmother. A childlike simplicity, quirky, colorful, primitive – these are just a few of the words describing the extraordinary talent of painter Adam Handler. His recognizable characters include bats, insects, and ghosts. They continue to embody innocence and adolescent energy from his youth. Using acrylic paint, oil stick, pencil, and markers, Handler’s child-like and innocent drawing technique produces distinctive outlined characters, which remind viewers of their own familiar crayon drawings from childhood. Vigorously drawn with scratches and markings that appear to spill over the edge of the canvas, conveying a lively and improvised effect.
The current exhibition highlights Handler’s latest works from the “Ghost” and “Ghost Abduction” series the painter had prepared for the Korea exhibition. The character “Ghost” from the “Ghost Abduction” series is a metaphorical medium expressing its destined fate with a UFO. Adam Handler says, “A child creates art for the sake of it, not for the audience. My artistic activity arises from the innocent heart and space, while love and pains between segments of my life become the driving force.”
아담 핸들러 Adam Handler (B. 1986-)
Education BA in Art History: State University at Purchase, NY, 2008
Solo Exhibition 2021 The Trinity Gallery-LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT : GHOST STRIKES SEOUL!-Seoul, Korea Cohle Gallery- Twinkling Unknowns- Paris, France 2020 Spring/Break Art Show with CB Gallery- NYC D’Stassi Art- London, UK 2019 Artual Gallery-Under Softer Summer Skies-Beirut, Lebanon Janet Lehr Fine Art- New Girls-East Hampton, NY Rarity Gallery- Mykonos, Greece Madelyn Jordon Fine Art- Between Nightmares and Fairy Tales-Scarsdale, NY Ober Gallery- Angels Around Here-Kent, CT 2018 The Lane Contemporary- Things we dream about- Katonah, NY One River School of Arts and Design- Smiling Eyes- Harstdale, NY Brega Artist Space- Love Sick - Seoul, Korea Janet Lehr Fine Art- Sweet Things- East Hampton, NY 2017 Janet Lehr Fine Art- Art Market Hamptons- Bridgehampton, NY Madelyn Jordon Fine Art- Rebel, Rebel- Scarsdale, NY Maison 10- Sweet Thing- NYC Gold Coast Arts Center-Creative Crossroads- Great Neck, NY 2016 Children's Museum of Westchester- Bat and Ghost paintings- Rye, NY The Bendheim Gallery, Adam Handler: Flowers, Gardens and Little Things, Greenwich, CT 2015 Vered Gallery, Adam Handler: New Works, East Hampton, NY Fred Torres Gallery- All Saints Here- NYC The Bendheim Gallery and Fred Torres Gallery, How Long Can I Keep You, Greenwich, CT 2014 Fred Torres Gallery- American Children- NYC Fountain Art Fair with Monica Buckle Gallery- NYC Cutlog Art Fair with Monica Buckle Gallery-NYC 2013 The Bendheim Gallery in association with the Greenwich Art Council-Women paintings- Greenwich, CT 2012 Vered Gallery- Love Junkies- East Hampton, NY 2011 Media Loft Gallery- Excitable Boy- New Rochelle NY 2010 The Bendheim Gallery in association with the Greenwich Arts Council-Born in the 80’s- Greenwich, CT Adrian J Falcon Gallery-Words and Lips- Del Rio, TX 2009 POST Exhibit space-So smile- Calgary, Canada
Group Exhibition 2021 FNG Art- Blue- Taichung, Taiwan Madelyn Jordon Fine Art- Look Forward, Look Back- Scarsdale, NY FNG Art- One Art Taipei Art Fair- New Taipei City, Taiwan Morton Contemporary- Girls and Ghosts- Philadelphia, PA 2020 Granada Gallery- Swab Art Fair- Barcelona, Spain Cohle Gallery- Beyond the Walls- Paris, France Rarity Gallery- Mykonos, Greece Galerie COA- Échafaudage- Montreal, Canada ZQ Gallery- Needs More Salt- Hamptons Art Fair- South Hampton, NY Saint Maison Gallery- Blessing in Disguise- Tokyo, Japan 2019 CB Gallery- POW!- Katonah, NY Janet Lehr Fine Art - The Philadelphia Fine Art Fair- Philadelphia, PA LC Gallery- Inaugural Exhibition (Adam Handler, Taylor White, Rob Tucker and Jean Philippe Duboscq). Brussels Madelyn Jordon Fine Art- Staging Nature- Scarsdale, NY Janet Lehr Fine Art- Texas Contemporary- Houston, TX 2018 Janet Lehr Fine Art- Art on the Edge- East Hampton, NY Art Market Hamptons showing with Janet Lehr Fine Art- Bridgehampton, NY Maison 10- Top Ten- NYC Moniker Art Fair showing with Janet Lehr Fine Art- Brooklyn, NY Madelyn Jordon Fine Art- Local/Global-Scarsdale, NY Artual Gallery- The Urban Experience- Beirut, Lebanon Untitled Gallery in association with EK Gallery- Dreams of la la land- Los Angeles, CA The Lane Contemporary- Small works- Katonah, NY Artual Gallery- Holiday show- Beirut, Lebanon O’Silas Gallery at Concordia College- Flower Power- Bronxville, NY Massey Klein Gallery and Groupe- 3 Artists- NYC Texas Contemporary with Janet Lehr Fine Art- Houston, TX 2017 Artual Gallery- Contemporary Survey- Ivory Coast, Africa Undercurrent Projects (Curated by Savannah Spirit)-Hotter than July-NYC Cheryl Hazan Gallery-Graphic Identity- NYC Janet Lehr Fine Arts- Art on the Edge- East Hampton, NY Ober Gallery- Forces of Nature, Kent, CT ZQ Gallery- Modern Girls- Mana Contemporary- Jersey City, NJ 2016 ZQ Art- Pattern and Symmetry- Mana Contemporary- Jersey City, NJ Madelyn Jordon Fine Art-Nature Show- Scarsdale, NY Outsider Art Fair with ZQ Art- NYC The Bendheim Gallery- ex·is·ten·tial- Greenwich, CT Context Art Fair with Madelyn Jordon Fine Art- NYC Madelyn Jordon Fine Art- “In with a POP”, Scarsdale, NY The Bendheim Gallery-Dog Days of Winter- Greenwich, CT Art Context Miami with Madelyn Jordon Fine Art- Miami, FL 2015 Vered Gallery- Boaz Vaadia and Adam Handler, East Hampton NY 2014 Fred Torres Gallery, Holiday Show, NYC Fred Torres Gallery, Please don’t stop loving me!, NYC 2013 Vered Gallery- Art On the Edge- East Hampton, NY Armory Print Fair with Dorianne Hutton Fine Art- NYC Vered Gallery- Say it with flowers- East Hampton, NY 2012 The Bendheim Gallery- Look who’s here- Greenwich, CT Vered Gallery- Art on the Edge- East Hampton NY Spacewomb- NY: Fashion Photography- Long Island City, NY 2010 Vered Gallery- Art on the Edge- East Hamptons NY 6x6 Gallery- Small Works- Long Island City, NY PooL Art Fair with Veaux gallery- NYC The Bendheim Gallery-Americana- Greenwich CT Walter Wickiser Gallery- Confluences of Culture VI: Chelsea NYCWalter Wickiser Gallery- Confluences of Culture III- NYC Climate Gallery-Never Think SMALL- Long Island City, NY Lana Santorelli Gallery-Gastronomy- NYC The Blue Door Gallery-Play it again, Sam- Yonkers NY, Climate Gallery- Focal Length- Long Island City, NY 2008 Walter Wickiser Gallery -“Grand”- NYC