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Adam Trachtman? You haven't heard of him?

Well actually, he wasn't the first Adam, but if you're the type of person who keeps their eyes open to those that write on walls, skin, canvas or anyplace they can put the madness down on a near-linear surface, then you're gonna be hearing about this very talented and gifted artist.

Originally hailing from Philadelphia, a city he says is very similar to Prague with its weather, its outstanding collection of historic buildings and winding cobblestone streets, as well as its large Slavic community, he left the comforts of home in '94 and embarked on a pan-European journey, even though he always suspected he would end up here in Prague, enchanted as he was by an old friends glowing descriptions of the Golden City.

Maybe it was this, or the fact that his family hails from this region and it was something deep inside that drove him to this land of his ancestors, this valley of inexplicable energy that pours into and out of all who settle here. An artist from an early age (at 10 he began figure studies and painting courses), enrolling in a creative and performing arts high school, which lead him to the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and a series of college stops, the most recent being Charles University for a course on the history of Czech art.

While talking with him recently, I discovered that the style of local art that inspires him the most is the Successionist movement, "... Art Nouveau, which manifests itself in insidious little ways every day, not just here in Prague, but throughout the whole Republic, is a powerful representation of Bohemia, never letting you forget that life is more than just straight lines and hard angles, (like the Austrian styles), but it's the patterns and curves that give it all flavor and meaning."

His work is, by his own definition; undefinable. In my words, clever, fantastic, fluid, stream-of-consciousness representations of those fragments of thoughts, items, people and places that invade our sphere of awareness every moment of every day. It wavers from tight tension induced constriction to that lucid fluidity born of an all night orgy in the opium den, sometimes both at the same time.

There's always that abstractuous tinge, bordering on realism, but never overly surrealist, as he prefers to make the abstract look painstakingly real, acknowledging that art is communication, and that while energetic at times, "... most abstract art is just blah, it says nothing."

In addition to painting, drawing and dabbling in photography, he is a regular contributor to the Prague Boast, and during the day, works hard at creating web pages for a local east European news provider. And his comic series Mugwump, can be found on this site as it was in the pages of Think.

But don't look for his work in the galleries, as they don't thrill him as much as a good sketch pad and a cup of coffee, and who knows, you just might run into him some day, carving a pattern on the wall. (While this article was written some time ago, it's our pleasure to inform you that our first Think.cz website was designed by Adam, who still resides in Prague with his wife and dogs... still being the pimp mac daddy of webwork).