SmithDavidson Gallery welcomed Dutch artist Hanne Arends (Utrecht, 1995) to the exclusive preview at Treasure House Fair this week. The talented artist has been in the spotlights in the Dutch art scene since graduating simultaneously for the Design Academy Eindhoven and the Amsterdam Gerrit Rietveld art academy in 2023.
In her most recent series, Rebels, Arends delves into the evolution of identity as we grow older. “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.” Through a collection of glass sculptures, she seeks to rediscover that honesty from childhood—what we seem to lose as we age: playfulness, trust, and the freedom to simply be.
What do we lose as we grow older? Why do we become less uninhibited? These are questions that have vexed Hanne Arends and given rise to her new series of glass sculptures entitled Rebels.
"Why did we burst out laughing so often as children and why does that seem to fade in adulthood?" Yet there’s great potential in that lack of inhibition. For Rebels, a series of figurative glass sculptures, she gave her inner child complete freedom.
“I worked without expectations and let everything simply come to me while sketching.”
- Hanne Arends, Spring 2025
“Rebels is about rediscovery,” Arends explains. “About creating without a fixed plan. About daring to let go. Life can be hard, but that doesn’t mean everything must feel heavy. Sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to be light.”
These glass sculptures celebrate freedom, play, and surrender. They show what can emerge when we stop trying to control everything—how letting go often leads to something unexpectedly beautiful.
Discover the Rebels at SmithDavidson Gallery, alongside works by Harland Miller, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Tommy Watson Yannima, Sam Francis and Emily Kam Kngwarray.
SmithDavidson Gallery at The Treasure House Fair
Booth 215
On view daily from 11 am, until Tuesday July 1st.
