Adrian is stepping into an exciting new chapter of his career, one that promises greater independence and the opportunity to fully live out his passion. As a peer recovery support specialist at Trilogy in Chicago, he now dedicates his days to supporting others on their journey to healing, drawing from his own experiences to connect with those in need. In this role, Adrian uses his lived knowledge to offer guidance, compassion, and a steady presence for people navigating their own challenges. His work is more than just a job; it’s a calling, a way to combine his personal growth with a desire to make a real difference.
Outside of his professional life, Adrian continues to nurture his creative spirit. When he’s not painting, you can find him hiking through nature, cooking up new recipes, or hosting art parties at his home with his wife, Kristin. These gatherings are not just about art—they’re a celebration of community, healing, and the shared joy of creation.
Together, Adrian and Kristin founded Art from the Heart, an organization close to their hearts that provides people with the opportunity to furnish their homes with donated artwork created by them. It’s more than just a charitable endeavor; it’s a mission to spread love, connection, and healing through art. Each piece represents not just a creation, but a story—one that brings beauty and purpose into the lives of those who need it most.
Adrian (he/him) is a self-taught artist whose life and work are deeply intertwined. Born and raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Adrian's artistic journey began in middle school, where he first discovered the therapeutic power of creativity. Art became his outlet for self-expression, a space where he could make sense of the world around him. But as a teenager, Adrian's life took an unexpected turn. He was diagnosed with a mental illness, which introduced him to an overwhelming mix of emotions and experiences that would shape his life for years to come.
In his search for relief, Adrian found solace in substances, which ultimately led to a battle with addiction. You can hear more of his and other stories on breakyoursilence.org. He founded this organization to reduce stigma around mental illness. This turbulent period, marked by both highs and lows, mirrored his personal struggles and reflected the raw intensity of his inner world. Yet, through all the pain, his art remained a constant companion—helping him confront his demons and express what words could not.
Adrian’s art became not just a form of escapism, but a means of healing. With each stroke of the brush, he processed the chaos of his emotions and made peace with the darkest corners of his psyche. His work is a reflection of both his battles and his triumphs, a visual testament to resilience and transformation. Every piece he creates tells a story—one of struggle, growth, and ultimately, the ongoing journey toward self-understanding and healing.
Adrian’s artistic style is a dynamic fusion of control and spontaneity, rooted in the interplay between his favorite materials: palette knives and fluid ink. Each medium brings a distinct energy to his work—palette knives offering structure, and fluid ink offering surrender. Over the years, Adrian has honed this technique, developing a deeply personal style that balances precision with unpredictability, intention with intuition.
Palette knives are his tools of choice for shaping form and texture. With their varied sizes and edges, they allow him to craft deliberate strokes that bring weight and direction to his compositions. The tactile nature of the knife—dragging, scraping, layering—gives his paintings a sense of physicality, anchoring them in the present moment. These strokes often represent the narrative thread in his work: stories of struggle, resilience, joy, and healing. Each mark is made with purpose, echoing the lived experiences that inform his artistic voice.
In contrast, fluid ink introduces an element of chance. It moves freely across the canvas, bleeding into surfaces and blending in ways that resist control. Adrian embraces this unpredictability, allowing the ink to flow where it will—creating vibrant marbled patterns, soft blooms, and unexpected textures. For him, this medium holds a more spiritual presence. The ink behaves like emotion: raw, uncontained, and deeply expressive. It acts as a metaphor for the parts of life we can’t script or control—grief, hope, change—and invites the natural world, gravity, and time to become silent collaborators in the work.
The tension and harmony between these two mediums are central to Adrian’s process. Together, they produce a visual language that feels both grounded and transcendent. The ink lays down the emotional landscape, while the palette knife carves out the story—a dialogue between the ephemeral and the concrete. In each piece, the composition reveals itself gradually, shaped by both Adrian’s hand and the inherent life of the materials themselves.