David LEITNER

David Leitner, born and raised in Graz, Austria, is an artist working across painting, photography, film and large-scale public murals. He studied painting, graphic design and communication design at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and Tongji University in Shanghai, graduating with distinction as Mag. art. in 2020.

His work is rooted in a gaze he has been sharpening since childhood: observing, freezing moments, making his perception visible to others. 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.

Travel remains his primary method. across europe, From Tibet and China through India, Southeast Asia and the Philippines to Los Angeles and New York, what he collects along the way comes home as a mural, an exhibition, an argument. His works address social inequality, cultural identity and the tensions 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, cityscapes, flowers, faces, numbers, flea market discoveries and trash.

Beauty plays a central role throughout – not as decoration but as a conscious position. The image draws you in first; the subject follows. 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.

His large-format murals span five continents, with works in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., New Delhi, Chennai, Vilnius, Lisbon, Madrid, Tokyo, Shanghai and numerous locations across Europe. His practice moves fluidly between the monumental and the intimate, between the rural and the urban, between the gallery and the street. 

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 and works between Vienna and rural styria.

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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