Chester Tenneson
Lecturer
Fine Art
Chester is a Lecturer and artist who leads Fine Art practice within the BA Fine Art & Art History pathway. His research-led teaching focuses on Queer contemporary art and art history, with a focus on pedagogical Queer inclusion and belonging. He co-authors the research project 'Queer Painting' with Lecturer and artist Katie Tomlinson.
Chester’s research by practice is conceptually led by language, with outputs in painting, performance and sculpture. He has exhibited widely - recent exhibitions include 'Just Browsing', Bluecoat, Liverpool; '(Un)Defining Queer', Whitworth, Manchester and 'Queer Art(ists) Now', Space Station Sixty-Five, London.
Current work focusses on text-based paintings which utilise typography, language, abstraction and bold colour as central visual elements. The paintings question the power and history of the medium of painting, with playful re-appropriations of art historical painterly strategies associated with machismo (color field painting, abstract expressionism), taxonomies of painting (scenes, portraits, landscapes, still lifes) and nods to conceptual painting history.
Text is appropriated from institutional or commercial contexts such as signage, government policy, medical manuals, advertising copy and social media posts. These short fragments of language feel incomplete or ambiguous - the artwork operates through absence and implication exposing the absurdity / banality of institutional rules, norms or behaviour. Humour is often used to reveal the hidden assumptions and power structures embedded in everyday language. Absurd cis-heteronormative structures are regularly revisited, informed by Tenneson’s perspective as a transgender man.
Performative elements are key to all of Chester’s work - language is used as a means to describe an action, a staging, a scene, a placement of objects or as an invitation to the viewer to participate in response an artwork.
Research
Exhibitions
Tenneson, C., 2025. Just Browsing, Bluecoat, Liverpool, 25/10/2025 - 12/4/2026.
Tenneson, C., 2025. Stick 'em Up!, The Birley, Preston, 22/3/2025 - 12/4/2025.
Tenneson, C., 2023. (Un)Defining Queer, The Whitworth, Manchester, 27/1/2023 - 3/12/2023.
Tenneson, C., 2023. Questioning the Form, Manchester Poetry Library, 4/2/2023 - 1/4/2023.
Tenneson, C., 2023. WINK WINK, The Whitaker, Rossendale, 18/5/2023 - 23/7/2023.
Tenneson, C., 2022. Archives at Play, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, 6/3/2022 - 24/4/2022.
Tenneson, C., 2022. Fayre Share Fayre, The Whitworth, Manchester, 19/5/2022 - 4/9/2022.
Tenneson, C., 2022. Intersections, Paradise Works, Salford, 20/5/2022 - 21/7/2022.
Tenneson, C., 2022. Queer Art(ists) Now 2022, Space Station Sixty-Five, London, 17/9/2022 - 8/10/2022.
Tenneson, C., Gratrix, G., 2021. I don't want to thank you, you can just..., CBS Gallery, Liverpool, 24/6/2021 - 10/7/2021.
Tenneson, C., Clayton, Z., 2021. Interruptions: Queer Reflections, Holden Gallery, Manchester, 21/10/2021 - 21/10/2021.
Tenneson, C., 2020. Enough is Definitely Enough, Pineapple Black, Middlesborough, 24/9/2020 - 17/10/2020.
Tenneson, C., 2019. Beautiful and Brutal, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, 20/9/2019 - 24/11/2019.
Tenneson, C., 2019. Half of two days of everything, Paradise Works, Salford, 29/3/2019 - 14/4/2019.
Artefacts
Tenneson, C., Tomlinson, K., 2025. 'Queer British Painting: On Gender (2015 - 2025)'.
Performances
Tenneson, C., 2022. 'Bright lights from giant wheels', Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, 19/3/2022.
Tenneson, C., 2022. 'Dance with me / don't dance with me', Manchester Contemporary Art Fair, 4/11/2022.
Books
, 2024. '(UN)DEFINING QUEER Queering the Constituent Museum'.
Dukes, T., 2024. 'Archives at Play'.
Bracey, A., 2021. '978-1-9162759-9-7'.
Tenneson, C., 2020. 'Across the Pond Zine'.
Media
Tenneson, C., 2022. 'Bunker Talk #71'.
Tenneson, C., 2020. 'Trans Up North 2020: Labels and Fables - A Trans History of the Artwork of Chester Tenneson'.
Internet Publications
Tenneson, C., Clayton, Z., 2020. 'Found in Translation'.
Journal Articles
Tenneson, C., Tomlinson, K., 2026. 'On Queer Belonging in Art School: A collaboratively authored paper on Chester Tenneson's undergraduate Fine Art Queer Research Group (QRG), based at Manchester School of Art, UK.', Synteesi journal.
Non-Peer Reviewed Articles
Burns, S., 2026. 'This is tomorrow: Chester Tenneson'.
Presentations
Tenneson, C., 2023. 'Exploring Museums and Galleries as Queer Spaces', The Whitaker, Rossendale.
Tenneson, C., 2023. 'Spineless Wonders: The Zine, Type And Script - Queer Zines', Online.
Tenneson, C., 2021. 'Queer Art & Now', Online - affiliated with Liverpool John Moores University.
Tenneson, C., 2020. 'Correspondance/Correspondence MCR-MTL', Online - hosted by Vidéographe, Montreal, Canada.
Tenneson, C., Clayton, Z., 2020. 'Found in Translation - In conversation with Ria Brodell, Ellis Jackson Kroese, Buzz Slutzky and Evan Swartz', Online.