David LEITNER

David Leitner was born in Graz, Austria.

Growing up in a family of farmers, that travelled widely and valued warmth and curiosity as basic premises, he developed an early sensitivity for the stories that places carry and for the gap between those who are seen and those who are not.

His works address social inequality, cultural identities and the tensions as well as contradictions between urban and rural, wealth and poverty, the visible and the deliberately overlooked. He is not a documentarian, but he works with what he finds: conversations, city and landscapes, flowers, faces, numbers, flea market discoveries and trash.

Beneath surfaces that are formally considered and visually compelling, his work consistently engages with difficult terrain: displacement, exploitation, mental illness, social invisibility, the comfortable fictions that societies tell themselves. He sees no contradiction in this. Beauty, for him, is the logical response to an often ugly world – a decision, not a compromise.

He understands the entirety of life as artistic process – the boundaries between disciplines interest him far less than the quality of attention brought to what is in front of him.

David Leitner lives between Vienna and rural styria.


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UPComing:
“Planet paint” with Kilian Wittmann ; Vernissage 07.08.26 SChönau 8 / scharnstein

public paintings:

New York city, usa
Washington DC, usa
los angeles, usa
new delhi, india
Chennai, india
eastern province, sri lanka
vilnius, lithuania
Palawan, philippines
Malapascua, philippines
lisboa, portugal
lhasa, tibet
tokyo, japan
Shanghai, china
canary islands, spain
porzuna, spain
Usera/madrid, spain
Syros, greece
wiener Neustadt, Austria
Wagendorf, austria
Eisenerz, austria
Wolfurt, austria
würmla, austria
graz, austria
wies, Austria
vienna, austria

selected exhibitions and projects:

2025 „black whole“, Boutique Romana, Wien (Solo)

2024 „EUNIC Collective Mural“, Bowery, New York City

2024 „oltre i confini“, Rocca Paolina, Perugia

2024 „/imagine“, Atlas, Wien (Solo)

2023 „Lines and Shades“, Kunsthalle Graz

2023 Weihnachtsausstellung, Galerie Grill, Graz

2022 „They Asked Totally Useless Questions“, Keil Galerie Griesplatz, Graz

2022 „Observer“ – Film Screening und Print Release, Österreichisches Kulturforum, New York

2022 „Dupont Mural“ mit Calle Libre und Dupont Underground, Washington D.C.

2022 Artist Talk und Live Painting, Österreichische Botschaft, Washington D.C.

2020 „Beyond Dystopia“, AG18, Wien

2020 „Nach wie Vor“, Orpheum, Graz

2019 „DRINNEN“, AG18, Wien

2019 „100% TRASH“, Kulturdrogerie, Wien (Solo)

2019 „1143 Slaves“, Kunsthaus Graz (Performance)

2018 „Janus“, MUC30, Graz (Solo)

2018 „Works on Paper“, Suppan Fine Arts, Wien

2018 „Thanks for Following“, Improper Walls, Wien (Solo)

2017 „rück-kehr“ herminengasse1, Wien (Solo)

2017 „Made in China“ basement Shanghai, China (solo)

2017 „Inszenierte Projekte“ secession , Wien

2016 „Bew & Blend“ m50 Shanghai, China

2015 „100for10“ easyupstream gallery, Munich

2015 „Ijen“ Aa-Collections, Wien (solo)

2015 „ecce homo“ galerie24, Graz

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