Capturing the spirit of youth in a natural, not trying-too-hard-to-be-cool way can be pretty tough, but painter Ian Thomas Miller pulls it off masterfully. His paintings conjure imagery of summers spent hanging out by someone's parents' pool, of long, lazy days and nights spent chilling with equally unoccupied friends. The 22-year-old Chicago-based artist’s work pops with color and snippets of images that give a collage-like effect to may of his paintings. Hands are a recurring theme in much of his work these days, whether the fingers are dangling a cigarette or crossed over each other—perhaps for good luck, perhaps to take the jinx off of a lie. While these hands are clearly and perfectly rendered, faces are nearly always obscured.