AdamVanVliet
Large-scale portraits of people caught mid-flinch — hands over the eyes, the mouth, the whole face. Built up in blocks and knife marks, then let to run.
Selected Work
The Work
Every one of these people is hiding, and none of them are getting away with it.
The hands are the tell. They come up over the eyes, across the mouth, around the throat — the reflex you make a half-second before you break. Adam paints that half-second: the face still composed, the body already gone.
The surface does the same thing. Skin is built in flat blocks and knife strokes that stay honest about being paint, then washed with runs that drip down the canvas like the picture is failing in real time. Grounds go raw and loud — cadmium red, acid yellow, a flat teal — so there is nowhere for the figure to hide.
The charcoal and graphite drawings run alongside the paintings: same faces, same pressure, stripped to line.
- DisciplinePainting · Drawing
- MediaOil · Acrylic · Charcoal
- SubjectPortrait · Figure
- ScaleLarge format canvas
- OriginalsAvailable
- CommissionsOpen
Originals are available directly. Framing, shipping and studio pickup are arranged case by case — ask when you write.
Commissions
Talk it through
Send the subject, rough size, where it is going to hang, and any reference photos you have. If it's a portrait, the more candid the reference the better — these paintings live on real expressions, not posed smiles.
Scope and deposit
You get a firm price, a size, and a timeline before anything starts. Half up front to hold the slot and cover materials, half on completion. No surprises later.
Paint and hand off
Progress photos as it develops, with room for notes at the block-in stage. Finished work is varnished, photographed, and ready to collect or ship.
Start a Piece
Say what you're after.
Commission, an available original, an exhibition, or just a question about the work — it all lands in the same inbox. Adam answers these himself, so expect a real reply rather than a form letter.
- Emailadam.vanvliet1@gmail.com
- Instagram@adam.v.art ↗
What helps most
- 01Candid reference photos
- 02Rough size, or the wall it’s for
- 03A date, if there is one
- 04A piece here that’s close