A Soft Touch

Mystic Reality & Cashmere Dreams with Adrian Schachter

I can attest to the magical properties of Adrian Schachter’s work because I wear it on my body. Under the name Adrian Cashmere, the artist creates sartorial selections unlike anything ever experienced in the medium of soft wool. My affinity grew before I knew of Schachter’s success as a gallery artist, or his family’s art world centrality. He had me at cashmere, but his art practice is expansive, and his work is known to sell out overnight due to a legion of luminary collectors.

Kristin Farr: Describe some of the reference images for your paintings.

Adrian Schachter: My source material comes from all over the internet: various social media, online collections, films, and forums. I also use generative AI. The images and concepts come from different places, but they’re always found through screens.

Do you use specific search terms?

There are not many recurring terms. Sometimes I’ll pepper searches with words like unusual, unique, rare, recently discovered, etc., trying to find non-fictional imagery that seems fantastical.

Is it fair to say you have a tendency toward amalgamation?

That is true. It was born out of indecision, wanting to go left and right at the same time. For me, amalgamating images feels natural: It’s a reflection of my experience, like a desktop with multiple tabs open at the same time. I’m going for visual combinations that are jarring, unpredictable but are not in opposition to each other.

Tell me about your show at NYC’s Gratin last year.