Details:
① Artwork:
Making Believe
This series explores themes of home, belonging, and wandering based on the Canadian-American artist’s experiences living abroad. These artworks depict houses in landscapes, a subject that has recently become a focal point for Hanes and his journey of self-discovery.
David Hanes' artworks begin with outdoor sketches that travel with him, later becoming the foundation for his studio practice. He approaches his subjects expressively, aiming to capture not only their formal qualities but also the energy, emotion, and atmosphere of his plein-air sessions. In the studio, Hanes revisits these sketches to reconnect with those initial moments, exploring the tension between rootedness and wandering. The homes he encounters on his travels feel familiar, yet none are truly his own. This reflects his broader journey across diverse terrains, both internal and external, as he explores through painting the complex relationship between home, heritage, and his search for belonging.
Specs:
③ Artist:
Self-taught painter David Hanes spends much of his time traversing the globe to inform his painting practice. Perhaps best described as nomadic, his artworks start from plein-air sketches he makes while traveling to serve as the ideal "Momentaufnahme" (German for "snapshots") of his adventures. After his time on the road, Hanes settles into a studio or residency to reflect on these collected studies, viewing them as 'souvenirs' or 'conduits' to his felt experiences and emotions. These reflections become the foundation of his studio practice, where a sketched moment from Iceland may turn into a watercolor in Italy and, eventually, an oil-painted canvas in Berlin. This time and distance infuse his work with layers of memory and reflection, transforming fleeting encounters with nature into dynamic, vividly expressive windows of his travels. Drawing on themes from nature, Hanes employs bold color and a raw, expressive style to offer viewers a glimpse into the emotional charge of his encounters with the spirit of Landscape.
David Hanes (b. 1987, Toronto) lives in Berlin and abroad. He holds a BFA in Sculpture from OCAD University in Toronto, Canada (2013).
Hanes has exhibited nationally and internationally, including Mott Projects (Catskill), Il Bisonte Gallery (Florence), Zepster Gallery (Brooklyn), Youn Contemporary (Montreal/Toronto), Annika Nuttall Gallery (Aarhus), Andrea Festa (Rome), Emerge Project Space (Pescara), White Noise Gallery (Rome), Spazio ORR (Brescia), Open Forum (Berlin), Birch Contemporary (Toronto), Pylon Lab (Dresden), Ultrastudio (Pescara), and Robert Morat Galerie (Berlin).
His artistic contributions have been featured in publications such as Dazed, Juliet Art Magazine, O Fluxo, Daily Lazy, CKTH, Whitehot Magazine, FAD Magazine, Inside Art Magazine, Exibart, Artoday, Art Viewer, Ignant, Scandale Project, and Kubaparis.
Recently, Hanes has been engaged in several projects, including residencies at Pas Mal Residency in Montreal, LungA School in Iceland, Farmlands Residency in Luxembourg, the SUL Foundation in Canada, and the Villa Lena Foundation in Tuscany.