About
B I O G R A P H Y
Los Angeles-based Bradley Hankey is a realist painter whose current work reflects his interest in the light and landscape of Southern California. In his work, Hankey explores the tension between the specific and the universal - his paintings are grounded in reality and yet capture the emotional feeling of a place: colors are saturated, details are softened and deliberately included or left out. Every brush stroke and glaze layer is intentional and the resulting painting is simultaneously iconic and ubiquitous.
Representation:
Billis Williams Gallery in Los Angeles, California
Sue Greenwood Fine Art in Laguna Beach, California
A R T I S T - S T A T E M E N T
In my daily life, I am flooded with visual imagery that inspires me. I see more possible paintings than I could ever actually paint in my lifetime. These glimpses of the city, of shifting light, and fleeting colors stay with me long after the moment has passed. Painting is my way of slowing that experience down, and holding on to what resonates with me. I think of this process as "emotional realism:" a way of translating lived moments into layered, atmospheric paintings that balance realism with the emotional weight of what inspired me.
I am interested in how light shapes our memory of a place, and how it can create an emotional response: how a sky, a shadow, or a subtle shift in color can feel both familiar and quietly surprising. Whether seen from above in aerial perspectives, or from the ground in more contemplative views, my work creates a dialogue between vantage points - the intimate and the vast, the grounded and the dreamlike.
I'm obsessed with color, and my passion for color fuels my practice. Every hue is considered. I spend a lot of time mixing my paints to make sure I get the colors that I want. When painting, I love contrasting flat planes of color with more complex, layered mixtures. I frequently employ glazing, which is thin, transparent layers of paint that optically blend to create depth, atmosphere, and luminosity. Recently, I have embraced thicker, more tactile applications of paint, allowing the surface itself to carry energy and emotion.
While the imagery in my paintings are grounded in real places, my work is less about documentation than about distillation. Each work is an attempt to capture an emotional essence - a moment suspended in time - inviting the viewer to linger where light shifts, memory softens, and the familiar becomes surprising and new.
R E S U M E
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 - Edge of Time, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California
2025 - Almost a Dream, Billis Williams Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2024 - Familiar, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California
2021 - Waiting for the Sunrise, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California
2021 - Electric Embrace, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2020 - Here With Me, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California
2019 - Watch The Sunset With Me, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2017 - Shadows of Paradise, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2016 - California Now, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2015 - California, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2014 - #instalite #losangeles, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 - Celebrate Art, Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2025 - The Cityscape Show, Billis Williams Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2025 - Seattle Art Fair, Billis Williams Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2025 - San Francisco Art Fair, Billis Williams Gallery, San Francisco, California
2025 - Palm Springs Modernism Show, Billis Williams Gallery, Palm Springs, California
2024 - 21st Century Realism by California Artists, Hilbert Museum of California Art, Orange, California
2024 - Cloud 9, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Los Angeles, California
2024 - The Cityscape Show, Billis Williams Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2024 - End of the Century, Online exhibition, HyperContemporary.com
2023 - 144, Paul Scott Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
2023 - The Cityscape Show, Billis Williams Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2023 - Supersonic Horizons, Online exhibition, supersonicart.com
2023 - City Structures, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California
2019 - Lauren Albrecht, curator. Lost in the Sky, 5/2018 - 8/2019. Los Angeles International Airport, Terminal 7 Gallery, Los Angeles
2019 - Works by Gallery Artists, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2019 - Laguna College of Art and Design Collector’s Choice Auction, Seven-Degrees, Laguna Beach, California
2019 - California Cool, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California. Exhibit and auction.
2018 - Group Exhibition, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California
2018 - Laguna College of Art and Design Collector’s Choice Auction, Seven-Degrees, Laguna Beach, California
2018 - California Cool, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California. Exhibit and auction.
2017 - Spring Fling, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2017 - California Cool, Featured Artist, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California. Exhibit and auction.
2016 - Palm Springs Fine Art Fair, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Palm Springs, California
2016 - California Cool, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California. Exhibit and auction.
2016 - Group Exhibition, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2015 - Laguna College of Art and Design Collector’s Choice Auction, Montage Resort, Laguna Beach, California
2015 - Gallery Artists: A Work In Progress, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2015 - California Cool, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California. Exhibit and auction.
2015 - California Dreaming: An International Portrait of Southern California, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California, and Oceanside Art Museum, Oceanside, California
2014 - California Dreaming: An International Portrait of Southern California, Palazzo della Provincia di Frosinone, Frosinone, Italy
2014 - Summer, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2014 - Palette to Palate, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California. Exhibit and auction with work by ten artists.
2013 - Still Summer, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2013 - Summertime, Skidmore Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2011 - The Lights of Los Angeles, One Cog Gallery, Los Angeles
2010 - Weho@25, Temporary Space, West Hollywood, California. Juried by Howard N. Fox, Curator Emeritus of Contemporary Art, LACMA
2008 - Faces and Places, Gallery Sister Sorel, Boston, Massachusetts
2007 - Art in Embassies, United States Embassy, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
2007 - Paint, LynnArts - Time Warner Gallery, Lynn, Massachusetts
2007 - Open Studios, The Julia and David White Artist's Colony, Costa Rica
COLLECTIONS
Hilbert Museum of California Art, Chapman University
RESIDENCIES
2018 - Warm Heart Art, Tanzania (one month)
2009 - Conceptos Artisticos, Costa Rica (one month)
2007 - The Julia and David White Artist's Colony, Costa Rica (one month)
EDUCATION
2007 - Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, Massachusetts. Degree: Bachelor of Fine Art, Painting
2002 - Lane Community College, Eugene, Oregon. Studied art and environmental issues
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2022 - Nicole Borgenicht. Five To Watch: Bradley Hankey, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2022, pg. 59
2019 - Shana Nys Dambrot. Meet an Artist Monday: Bradley Hankey, LA Weekly, December 2019, https://www.laweekly.com/meet-an-artist-monday-bradley-hankey/
2014 - California Dreaming: An International Portrait of Southern California, Exhibition catalog, pg. 27, published by Oceanside Museum of Art
2011 - Studio Visit, Volume Sixteen, Boston. Publisher: The Open Studio Press / Steven T. Zevitas. pg. 78-79
2008 - Art In Embassies, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Exhibition catalog, cover credit and essay, pg. 4-5, published by the U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C.