Kendal Hanna

Kendal Alfred Hanna (25 June 1936 – 26 June 2024) was a Bahamian painter and sculptor known as one of The Bahamas’ first abstract expressionist. His works have been inspired by and compared to international artists and fellow abstractionists such as William de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Hans Hoffman, Joan Miró and Mark Rothko.

The majority of his initial works in his career were black and white paintings but he worked more extensively in colour after being treated for schizophrenia in his late twenties. He was the oldest child to Leonard “Jakes” Johnson and Mable Hanna

His interests in art began as a child in primary school. and began his first formal drawing lessons. Through the encouragement and mentoring of St. John, Hanna's dream to become an artist started to develop. It also gave him the opportunity to visit his first museum, The Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami in Gables, Florida. During that time, St. John shared with Hanna a small abstract painting in which he expressed an affinity to the work and the feeling and memory forever stuck with him. Kendal would visit the Pottery during his work breaks and ultimately left the establishment to become one of the first Bahamian artists to work at the famous Chelsea Pottery. While attending the Chelsea Pottery, he encountered more abstract pieces in the early 1990s in the form of ceramics and when asked by Charles Huggins whether the events influenced him, he replied: "It could have had some influence and did have some impact on me…(but) a lot has to do with the type of person I am. I believe I have an experimental mentality. I try to discover. Experiment and create something from an idea…I was in my twenties when I made the break…I have worked at it to develop it to the state it is today…”

In his early adulthood, Hanna, along with his friend Ron Stenson, decided to travel to the United States to discover more opportunities for employment and art production. They traveled to Florida and then New York City, where Hanna faced many hardships making it day to day being broke but also enjoying the freedom the new city had to offer.

He spent almost a year in New York, making new friends, both local people and artists, working in different establishments and visiting art museums.

In the end, Hanna returned to The Bahamas, overstaying his visit and was deported after turning himself in to the police.

Return to Nassau It was in New York when Kendal Hanna noticed his mental health was being afflicted, but it was not until his return to Nassau that the signs of mental degeneration became evident to himself and his family. As a result, he was institutionalized and prescribed a series of electric shock therapy treatments four times a week (a treatment that proved unsuccessful). Spending two years within the facility, he suffered physical and mental abuse. After his wedding and honeymoon, Hanna took in a vacation to Eleuthera, Bahamas without his wife. In the end, he saw his marriage as unconventional, and the two later separated after some time.

Hanna rented multiple spaces and apartments around Nassau, but it was not until 2007 where he found his permanent residence at PopopStudios, an independent artist run studio space and gallery. This decision helped him creatively speaking: a move Hanna called “perfect” that allowed him to produce and function being surrounded with artists. It was timed to coincide with his 75th birthday and featured work that spanned his almost sixty-year career.

Though he is mostly categorized as a painter, many of his works incorporate mixed media elements and materials such as oils, crayons, and found objects. Hanna sees his work and his canvas as an extension of his own life. He spent two years working on that painting, and admitted that, while he was able to visualize his completed image, “as an abstractionist, how I work, the experience of my work and the timing are unpredictable.”

Hanna died on 26 June 2024, one day after his 88th birthday.

Solo exhibitions 2011: Happy Birthday to Me, Kendal Hanna A Retrospective. National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas 2007: One Man Show, Self Portrait of the Artist. New Providence Art and Antiques, Nassau, Bahamas 2006: Kendal Hanna @ 70. New Providence Art and Antiques, Nassau, Bahamas 2005: One Man Show, New Providence Art and Antiques, Nassau, Bahamas 2003: One Man’ s Vision. National Art Gallery of Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas

Selected exhibitions 2015: VOLTA NY. Pier 90, New York City 2014: Imago Mundi. Luciana Benetton Collection, Venice, Italy & Lincang, China. 2013: Master Artist of the Bahamas Exhibition. National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas 40 Years of Bahamian Art Exhibition. National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas 2 Points of Views. Popopstudios International Center for the Visual Arts, Nassau, Bahamas Beg Borrow Steal! Liquid Courage Gallery, Nassau, Bahamas Small Art Auction House 2. National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas 2012: 2012 Invitational. The Central Bank of the Bahamas Art Gallery, Nassau, Bahamas The Small Art Auction House. The Bahamas Historical Society Museum, Nassau, Bahamas Open Studios + Group Exhibition. Popopstudios International Center for the Visual Arts, Nassau, Bahamas Sixth National Exhibition (NE6 Kingdom Come). National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas 2011: Master Artist of the Bahamas Exhibition. Waterloo Museum, Waterloo Iowa 2009: Central Bank of the Bahamas Annual Art Exhibition Fire’ Exhibition with Toby Lunn. Popopstudios International Center for the Visual Arts, Nassau, Bahamas 2008: Fourth National Exhibition. (NE4) National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas 2006: Third National Exhibition (NE3), National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas 2005: 9th Black Fine Arts Show, New York City 2004: Second National Exhibition (NE2). National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas 2003: Inaugural National Exhibition. National Art Gallery of the Bahamas