Hanne Arends (born 1995, Utrecht) is a talented Dutch multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Amsterdam. Her work delves deep into social themes, exploring emotion, identity, and human connection. With a strong intuitive style and a fascination for social dynamics, Arends creates art that resonates on both personal and collective levels—inviting viewers to reflect, feel, and to connect.
She graduated from both the Design Academy Eindhoven (2022) and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam (2023), becoming the first artist to complete both programs simultaneously. This unique academic path profoundly shaped her artistic voice, sharpening her focus on paradoxes, the tension between appearance and reality, and the layered nature of human experience.
Arends' work is characterized by a bold visual language, vibrant color palettes, and a subtly absurdist edge. She seamlessly blends expressive painting, immersive installations, and thought-provoking sculpture. From marble and ceramics to textiles and glass, her material choices are diverse, yet her hand remains unmistakable—precise, intuitive, and emotionally charged. Her pieces often carry a strong social undercurrent and are crafted with great attention to detail and craftsmanship.
For her graduation at the Rietveld Academie, she created two striking projects. Collective Loneliness is a large-scale installation of over 2,500 hand-molded ceramic figures that visualize the paradox of digital connectedness and emotional isolation. The installation has been a acquired by and will be on view in the Rosewood Hotel Amsterdam in the Spring of 2025. Freddy Marbic is a sculptural chair carved from more than 600 kilograms of Carrara marble, humorously mimicking the form of a plastic inflatable. Through this piece, she critiques the blurred lines between truth and fiction in the age of misinformation and "fake news."
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.
"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.
Through her deeply human and visually striking works, Hanne Arends challenges societal norms while reconnecting us with emotion, imagination, and vulnerability. Her art reminds us that by letting go of control, we often uncover something unexpectedly beautiful.