Niall Cheney
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Artist Statement
“We Flux and We Flummox”
Guides come and go through life
but they cannot tell you what sparks your heart.
This is the journey of life; figuring out
what you enjoy and attaining all of it.
We might run, trudge, fall,
but we move forwards.
This body of work is about navigating within exploration. Experimenting keeps the process fresh and many materials have been utilized for this body of work, be they seen or unseen. Restrictions artistically hold back from base impulses, which are what inspired this body of work.
Visual themes which are important to this are color, rhythm, depth and abstract space. When utilizing specific imagery most important is how it correlates with the concept, which works in tandem with the imagery. The goal of these visuals is engaging communication with the viewer.
Deciding a concept can happen during development of an image or before. Colors, images and movement have meanings to the self, and are not individual to a specific project. Some works are much deeper in concept than others, but all receive an equal treatment in visually communicating everything thought of in concept.
These works are reactions off of reactions, so concepts are mainly one and done. Repeating concepts too soon can harm the process of visualization, as a main goal in this work is to continue moving on. Concepts of interest are returned to occasionally, but not until enough time has passed where an entirely new groundwork can be built mentally around it.
The titles won’t entirely answer your questions as a viewer. They operate as the only direct communication to the viewer who will be encouraged to understand certain details differently or provide only partial context. Titles can also make a theme more apparent if it is subtle.
Artistic movements fully identified within this work are German Expressionism and Dadaism. Visual aggression and a comparable appearance to woodblock are two qualities inherited from German Expressionism. Dadaism is utilized as humorous titles and bizarre visual choices and concepts.
An artistic movement identifiable in this work is Futurism, but it is only (at very base concept) their idea of moving forwards and their visual treatment of rhythms and color. There are horrible implications of Futurism and its obvious appearance has to be addressed. Strictly speaking its visuals are fully identified with as well as one base concept, but its manifesto and next to all of its subject matter do not identify within this work whatsoever.
As a viewer, proceed understanding this work is open to interpretation and explore it as thoroughly as you wish.
![The image consists mainly of warm whites ranging from a light pink, to a light orange, and a light, desaturated green. Otherwise, there are warm blacks, which range from a dark red, to a dark brown, to a black. The image itself is of the ground, edited for the lights and shadows to reflect these colors. There are lines which waver over top, which also match these colors. There is a thin outline which matches the described colors, but where a light color exists it becomes red, and where a dark color exists it becomes black.](_images/03_niallcheney-660x304.jpg)
When I Walk and I Look Down // Transfer onto Stonehenge Paper // 64.963 x 30 inches
![The background appears to be a metal plate colored a blood red with light pink scratches. Over top is a repeated image of a wolfish looking dog with a graphite texture, and energetic linework. Between the linework of the dog are darker areas, which turn the background blood red either a navy or dark green. Behind the dog is a subtle glow, on the left it is dark, the right is lighter. The dog’s facial expression is reserved.](_images/04_niallcheney-660x421.jpg)
Mountain Lady // Transfer onto Stonehenge Paper // 46.988 x 30 inches
![The background is a vortex of varying colors. Over top, there are darkened silhouettes of rectangular sticks, creating diagonal shapes. Outlining these sticks are an ultraviolet blue, or a milky white. There is various blurring depending on the distance from the sticks.](_images/07_niallcheney-660x708.jpg)
The Infinity in Wood // Transfer onto Stonehenge Paper // 30 x 32.175 inches
![Sticks which vary in purples are repeated twice, rotated 180 degrees and at opposite sides of the composition. A dark red surrounds these sticks, and barely touches at the ends of the longer sticks. The background looks stoney, varying between a desaturated salmon and teal.](_images/09_niallcheney-660x401.jpg)
Caveman’s Abstract Expression // Transfer onto Stonehenge Paper // 49.35 x 30 inches
![A silhouette of a crimson person is being blasted back by their limbs which throws waves of color around the composition varying in reds. The background is mainly a dark emerald teal, and over top of the image is a very dark red smog. This smog becomes a less dark red over top the crimson of the person.](_images/10_niallcheney-660x371.jpg)
My Velocity // Transfer onto Stonehenge Paper // 53.338 x 30 inches