David Hanes: A Global Journey Through Paint and Memory

David Hanes: Painting Nature, Memory, and the Mystical Through Worldly Travels

David Hanes, a Berlin-based painter with Canadian-American roots, captures the essence of nature and memory through his intense, process-oriented approach to art.

David Hanes’ art transforms landscapes into emotional vessels, each painting a map of lived experiences where nature and memory are vividly entwined.

Known for his plein-air sketches that document landscapes during his travels, Hanes transforms these “Momentaufnahme” (snapshots) into vibrant oil paintings and watercolors in his studio.

His journey from a digital and conceptual art background to his current, nature-driven practice marks a pivotal transformation.

Through themes of home, belonging, escape, and the transient beauty of life, Hanes invites viewers into his intimate, world-spanning experiences.

Nature, Memory, and the Mystical: Central Themes

Hanes’ practice is steeped in themes that resonate with contemporary life, balancing the natural world with the metaphysical.

His works explore a blend of spirituality and phenomenology, as he strives to capture the resonance of fleeting moments within larger, universal cycles.

By focusing on the relationship between nature, memory, and the emotional experience of reality, he invites viewers into an immersive, introspective space.

Through this, Hanes connects deeply with ideas of home and escape, offering a mystical lens on existence in a vibrant, ever-changing world.

Much of his work embodies the tension between permanence and impermanence—rendering each canvas as a meditation on nature’s beauty and life’s transitory nature.

This exploration of ephemerality reflects a desire to capture emotional truths, placing the viewer in the moment and leaving them with a lingering sense of belonging.

Hanes’ creative process is rooted in travel, with each destination lending a unique influence to his work.

Starting with plein-air sketches drawn from his journeys across Italy, Luxembourg, Iceland, and Canada, he documents landscapes as both visual and emotional souvenirs.

These sketches evolve into expressive paintings once he returns to his studio, where distance from the actual location allows him to rely on memory and emotional resonance.

The sketches, which serve as personal keepsakes, take on a new life through bold colors and textural brushstrokes, capturing both his felt experience and the landscape’s essence.

This practice results in a vibrant interplay of memory and place, where Hanes’ oil paintings, often punctuated with abstracted forms, convey an intimate reflection on his surroundings.

His work embodies a symbiosis between reality and imagination, memory and present-moment experience.

In many ways, each painting becomes a layered expression of his journeys—a blend of figurative and abstract that reveals both the recognizable forms of nature and abstract, non-objective elements that speak to the spirit of the land.

Hanes’ artistic trajectory has undergone a marked evolution, shifting from minimal, sculptural works that often explored the digital realm to a more traditional, nature-centric practice.

This change reflects his growing interest in reconnecting with the materiality of painting, emphasizing the tactile and sensory experiences over digital manipulations.

While earlier works engaged with technology’s impact on art and society, his current work employs a painterly, expressionist approach, characterized by vibrant colors and a dynamic handling of paint.

This style resonates with the lineage of artists such as Gauguin, Matisse, and Kandinsky, whose use of color and form similarly sought to distill the spirit of place.

Hanes’ expressive, colorful compositions are optimistic, celebrating nature’s vibrancy and vitality.

His paintings balance a recognizably figurative approach with non-objective elements, bridging natural forms with the abstraction of color and emotion.

In this way, his work resonates with current trends in contemporary art, where a return to nature, the sensory, and the material is reshaping the dialogue around painting practices.

Recent Work and Milestones: Mott Projects and David Zwirner’s Platform

The growing recognition of Hanes’ work reflects his resonance within the art world’s evolving landscape.

Mott Projects: Contemporary Art Project Space. Features exhibitions and interviews with contemporary artists.

Mott Projects: Contemporary Art Project Space. Features exhibitions and interviews with contemporary artists.mottprojects

His recent Hold On exhibition at Mott Projects offered a new series of paintings inspired by his travels, specifically to Italy, Luxembourg, Iceland, and Canada.

These large and small-scale works encapsulate the nuanced interplay of place, memory, and emotion, inviting viewers into the landscapes and personal moments that shape his perspective.

Furthermore, Hanes was recently featured on David Zwirner’s Platform, where he showcased paintings centered around the motif of “home”—an essential theme in his exploration of belonging and the emotional ties we forge with places.

This inclusion in Zwirner’s renowned initiative highlights Hanes’ growing impact and the appeal of his introspective approach to art.

His use of familiar, yet abstracted, house motifs reflects a universal yearning for connection and stability in an often-nomadic existence.

A Thoughtful Contribution to Contemporary Art

In a world increasingly mediated by screens and digital interfaces, Hanes’ practice underscores a yearning for authentic, sensory experiences.

His art stands out in its dedication to process and materiality, offering viewers a tactile, layered experience that contrasts sharply with the immediacy of digital media.

By capturing the essence of place and memory, his work resonates with contemporary audiences drawn to themes of home, nature, and the mystical in a world grappling with rapid technological and environmental changes.

David Hanes’ art ultimately invites us to pause, to reflect on the places we’ve encountered, and to consider the profound connections we share with our surroundings.

David Hanes

His blend of traditional painting with a contemporary sensibility creates a space where memory and reality coexist, encouraging a deeper, more connected experience of the world.

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