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Kendal Hanna (born June 25, 1936) is a painter and sculptor and known as one of The Bahamas’ first abstract expressionist. (cite) Hanna reflections on his outlooks and achievements of being a successful artist: “Real curiosity in ideas, material, form and the environment, be it through drawing, sculpture or painting, and channeling that effort into hard work is the awesome responsibility and joy of an artist” (Installation Magazine).

His works have been inspired by and compared to international artists such as William de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Hans Hoffman, Joan Miró and Mark Rothko.

Early Life and Education
Kendal Hanna was born on June 25, 1936 in Nassau Bahamas. (cite) He took a strong interest in art starting in primary school. Pursuing this dream to be an artist, he traveled to New York City in his early adulthood but ultimately returned before attending a fine art school to nurse his ailing mother. He later studied Marine Biology and worked at the Nassau General Post Office. He would visit the famous Chelsea Pottery during his work breaks and left the establishment to ultimately become one of the first Bahamian artists to work at the famous Chelsea Pottery.

He met famous American muralist John St. John while he was very young 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. In his early stages, his works were mostly figurative but he always had an experimental mind that ultimately was explored through Abstract Expressionism. He describes his work as his “subconscious mind expressing itself on the canvas”.

Diagnose with Schizophrenia
In his twenties, Kendal Hanna was diagnosed with schizophrenia. (cite) As a result, he was institutionalize and prescribed a treatment of electric shock therapy four times a week (a treatment that proved unsuccessful). Spending two years within the facility, he suffered physical and mental abuse from the staff. (cite) After his release, Hanna used art to recover his motor capabilities and mental acuity.

On June 25th 2011, The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas honored Kendal Hanna with a retrospective titled ‘“Happy Birthday To Me’ Kendal Hanna: A Retrospective.” It was timed to coincide with his 75th birthday and featured work that spanned his almost sixty year career (Wells). With over 150 pieces of work present, Hanna’s pieces encompassed classic nude studies, compelling abstract expressionist pieces and psychologically intense portraits (K).

Work and Process
Hanna’s work is seen as personal and deeply psychological that portrays his fascination with representation and self-representation. He confessed the difficulty of his work and infers:

“Everybody is more familiar with what is visible in an object, what the eye is focused on outwardly. When people express themselves like this, it does surprise them. It is my subconscious mind expressing itself on the canvas. People will be faced with the unknown…”

Current Life
Hanna still currently resides in Nassau, Bahamas and works from his studio at PopopStudios International Center of the Arts where he occupied since 2007.