Bernhard Handick’s mixed media portraits exist in a space where familiarity becomes unstable. At first glance, the faces feel recognizable, drawn from pop culture and fashion photography, images we have been trained to read instantly. But Handick interrupts that recognition just long enough to make it strange again. What emerges is a body of work that feels seductive, fractured, and quietly surreal. The foundation of these portraits often begins with photography, particularly imagery tied to celebrity, editorial fashion, or mass media. Handick then disrupts that surface through manipulation. Photographs are layered, spliced, and overpainted. Faces blur into other faces. Features are obscured, multiplied, or partially erased. The act of painting…
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