David Kenney
Bio
David Kenney makes art and writes fiction.
The two practices intertwine, with each providing a narrative for the other.
David lives and works in North East England.
He was born in 1982.
Exibitions
Upcoming
- MUNICIPAL - 50 MZ, Liverpool - May 2024
- LOOK IF YOU WANT - The Peckam Pelican, London - May 2024
- FERENS OPEN EXHIBITION - Ferens Art Gallery, Hull - June to September 2024
- NORTHERN EXPRESSIONS - Woodend Gallery, Scarborough - January 2025
Past
- LOST LOVE - Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield - February 2024
- THE GRAND OLD OPEN – Redcar Palace, Redcar – November 2023
- PUNCHCARD – Middlesbrough Art Week, The Auxiliary, Middlesbrough – September 2023
Art Fairs
Upcoming
- STOCKTON ART FAIR - Stockton Art Festival, Stockton-on-Tees - July 2024
Awards & Fellowships
- NORTHERN EXPRESSIONS - Artist Development Programme, Scarborough Museums - 2024
Statement
David Kenney’s work stands at a nexus of speculative fiction and visual art, where storytelling and artistic expression are in a constant state of flux. Through painting and sculpture, he explores the interplay between imagination and reality, allowing each to influence and reshape the other in a continuous dialogue.
A constant theme of worldbuilding runs through David’s work, with every piece having a place in a drafted story set in a fictional universe. Each painting or sculpture has a written counterpart; a chapter or scene that contributes to a grander narrative. Some pieces draw direct inspiration from the unfolding tale, while others stem from pure self-expression; with the latter then being interwoven into the fabric of the story, imbuing it with deeper context and meaning. Gradually, as each new piece is completed, the narrative unfurls and evolves, breathing life into his artistic universe.
David's art explores architectural form and function, with a particular interest in structures which serve no apparent purpose. His writing explores themes of science-fiction, technology, time and the future.
David's influences include Brutalist Architecture, Constructivism, the work of M.C. Escher, Simon Stalenhag and David Umemoto, as well as his own experience of growing up around industrial decay. His sculptures and paintings take basic architectural elements and place them out of context, experimenting with space and orientation.
In all of his work, David pays particular attention to texture, shadow and light to give the pieces a feeling of past use and interaction; surfaces worn by the passing of time and human intervention occupy seemingly timeless landscapes; liminal spaces devoid of human presence.
David lives and works in Teesside, on the North-East coast of England.