David Hartt creates work that unpacks the social, cultural, and economic complexities of his various subjects. He explores how historic ideas and ideals persist or transform over time.Born in Montréal in 1967, he lives and works in Chicago. He has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Ottawa. He has taught at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Ox-Bow School of Art and the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College, New York.
His exhibition Stray Light originating with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago traveled to the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Henry Art Gallery, and the Carnegie Museum of Art. A catalog for Stray Light was published by the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago and was supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.
Recently David has had solo exhibitions at The Art Institute of Chicago, LA><ART, Los Angeles, and Or Gallery, Vancouver. His work has been included in recent group exhibitions including Ocean of Images: New Photography 2015 at The Museum of Modern Art, Now? Now!: 2015 Biennial of the Americas at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, America Is Hard to See at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Shine a light/Surgir de l’ombre: Canadian Biennial at the National Gallery of Canada, AIMA/AGO Photography Prize Exhibition at The Art Gallery of Ontario and Speaking of People: Ebony, Jet and Contemporary Art at The Studio Museum in Harlem.
His work is in several public collections including The Art Institute of Chicago,Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa and The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
David is the recipient of a 2015 Foundation for Contemporary Art Grant, in 2012 he was named a United States Artists Cruz Fellow and in 2011 he received a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award.
He is represented by Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago and David Nolan Gallery in New York City.