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"Nicole Chesney's contemplative, subtly luminous tableaux are unapologetically beautiful."

In her work she relays the experience of air and water and their union. Her poetic imagery is inspired by the writing of French philosopher Gaston Bachelard. She pays respect to his concepts of dream and reverie in paraphrasing him to say that it is the artist's job 'to convey a sense of wonder.'

Heller Gallery is pleased to present new works from Chesney's Sky/Water series. This series explores the literal sources of 'sky water' — the fog that hangs in the air and the clouds that drift through the sky. Luminous abstract compositions emerge from and fade into the matte sanded plane of the glass panels on which they are painted. In her paintings "air and water join to create an infinite, seamless 'unsilvered mirror,' where the horizon ceases and the beyond continues."

Bachelard proposes a sequence of reverie, contemplation and finally representation, to lead us to his notions of a meditative 'colorless sky that has infinite transparency and unifies the opposite impressions of presence and distance.' He quotes Coleridge: "The sight of a profound sky is, of all impressions, the closest to a feeling. It is more a feeling than a visual thing, or, rather, it is the definitive fusion, the complete union of feeling and sight." Nicole Chesney's work epitomizes these ideals.

Chesney received her undergraduate education at CCAC in California and at the Massachusetts College of Art, and holds an MA from the Canberra School of Art of the Australian National University. In 2006 she was a finalist in the prestigious Bombay Sapphire Prize in London, England. She was awarded the 2005 Rakow Commission by the Corning Museum of Glass and is the recipient of the 2004 UrbanGlass Award for New Talent and a 2001 Jutta Cuny-Frantz Foundation award. Her works have been exhibited internationally and are included in public and private collections in Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland and the United States.

Heller Gallery, April 2007

Artist Information
Nicole Chesney: Artist's Page