Cheyenne Gandy
Calamity
My art for the longest time has focused around character centric work, with the psychology behind said characters my driving force to want to create. My thesis follows this pattern by drawing from the inkblot tests developed by Hermann Rorschach, using their ambiguity as a framework to explore subjectivity and meaning making. Rorschach’s work reveals how individuals project internal states onto ambiguous forms, transforming indistinct shapes into deeply personal interpretations. Building on this premise, I have developed a series of characters and a cohesive visual world that embody these psychological processes.In this body of work, each character originates from an inkblot, shaped and refined through imagined perception. Rather than presenting the inkblots as static images, I extend their interpretive potential by translating them into fully realized figures, each suggesting personality, narrative, and emotional resonance.
The resulting world operates as a fluid conceptual space where perception remains unstable, encouraging active viewer engagement. By framing the project as a potential game environment, the viewer becomes a participant, invited to construct their own deeper interpretations of what they’re given. Ultimately, this work reflects on how meaning is formed, emphasizing the subjective nature of perception and the creative possibilities inherent in ambiguity.
Bio
Cheyenne Gandy is an illustrator currently based in Maine who was raised in Washington County.Ever since childhood Cheyenne has always had an overactive imagination, and as such has always had a habit of getting lost in fantastical worlds. Creating art has long been her way of giving characters and stories a physical form and her gateway into exploring her love of psychology.
Cheyenne’s passion for storytelling is deeply rooted in her hobbies; videogames, music, comics, animation… All of these things have shaped Cheyenne’s creative lens and inspired her to craft characters and universes of her own.