David Hanes

Born 1987, Toronto, Canada

Lives and works in London, UK

David Hanes’ work begins outdoors, with hand-held sketches made on site—imprints of light, colour, atmosphere, and energy. He carries these sometimes for years, filtering them through distance and time before transforming them in the studio into colour-driven oil paintings. In this way, the paintings are not reproductions but recollections of marks, rhythms, moods, and the pause between then and now. Built slowly over weeks of layering, they become dwelling-places that hold a felt tension between creation, stillness, and the vital weight of being alive: grief and hope, loss and longing, suffering and curiosity. Hanes was shortlisted for The Hopper Prize and is the recipient of a Mobility Scholarship from the Embassy of Canada in Rome.

EDUCATION

2026 MA Painting, Royal College of Art, London, UK

2013 BFA Sculpture, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada

2011 Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, US

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2026 'London Writes Itself,' LBF Contemporary, London, UK (Group)

2026 'What Shall We Do For The Rent,' Haricot Gallery, London, UK (Group)

2026 MA Painting Postgraduate Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK (Group)

2026 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (Group)

2025 'Orange Silk Blues,' Zepster Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, US (Duo)

2025 'Scatter Like Seeds,' McBride Contemporain, Montreal, Canada (Duo)

2024 'Hold On,' Mott Projects, Catskill, NY, US (Solo)

2024 'Platform,' David Zwirner Gallery, Online, US (Group)

2023 Annika Nuttall Gallery, Aarhus, Denmark (Group)

2023 'Post Print Media,' Il Bisonte Foundation, Florence, Italy, curated by Silvia Bellotti (Group)

2023 'And the Night Flowers Open,' Andrea Festa Fine Art, Rome, Italy (Group)

2022 'Fate & Fortune,' White Noise Gallery, Rome, Italy (Duo)

2021 'Open-Ended Photography,' Robert Morat Galerie, Berlin, Germany, curated by Tobias Kappel (Group)

2020 'Powerless,' Spazio ORR, Brescia, Italy (Solo)