SmithDavidson Gallery is pleased to announce the launch of "REBELS", an online exhibition featuring the latest work by multidisciplinary Dutch artist Hanne Arends.
Born in 1995 in Utrecht and based in Amsterdam, Arends is a thoughtful and intuitive artist whose practice spans painting, installation, and sculpture.
Her work engages with social themes and emotional landscapes, often questioning how identity, connection, and perception evolve over time.
With degrees from both the Design Academy Eindhoven and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Arends has developed a distinctive voice grounded in curiosity, paradox, and material experimentation.
The series “REBELS" centers on the idea of rediscovery. These glass sculptures reflect on the fading sense of playfulness and fearlessness that often comes with adulthood. “When I turned 30, I suddenly wondered: where did that sense of wonder go? That playfulness, doing something just because. The courage to fail. Being curious without fear.” Arends shares. In response, she began creating works that embrace process over perfection, art that emerges from intuition, not planning. Through this collection, she seeks to rediscover the honesty of childhood, what we seem to lose as we age: playfulness, trust, and the freedom to simply be.
Each piece in “REBELS" celebrates freedom, play, and surrender. They reveal what can emerge when we stop trying to control everything—how letting go often leads to something unexpectedly beautiful. Made by hand and without a fixed design, the sculptures invite viewers to pause, reconnect, and let go. “Life can be hard, but that doesn’t mean everything must feel heavy,” she explains. “Sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to be light.”
The online exhibition offers an early look at this new series by Arends and serves as a preview of her upcoming presentation at KunstRAI Art Amsterdam, where SmithDavidson Gallery is pleased to premier the artist’s work.
