Adam J. Kurtz (Adam JK) is an artist whose illustrative work is rooted in honesty, humor, and a little bit of darkness.

His books and journals including Things Are What You Make of Them have sold over a million copies in twenty languages worldwide.

Obsessed with aphorisms and ephemera, Kurtz's work seeks to craft new reminders from familiar sources, offering his brand of "back-handed optimism" as a token of encouragement and camaraderie for other creative, emotional, and deeply human people.