Cheyney Thompson has made the technology, production, and distribution of painting the subject of his work. He employs rational structures, technological processes, and generative devices as part of thinking through problems that organise themselves around the terms of painting.

Thompson’s Chronochromes (2009–2011) are composed using the colour system devised by Albert H. Munsell in the early 1900s. He grafts this system on to a calendar: each day is assigned a complementary hue pair, with every hour changing the value, and every month changing the saturation, of each brushstroke.

Thompson depicts motifs drawn from a scan of the underlying canvas, merging digital reproduction with the materiality of painting. His use of a typology of canvas formats continues his engagement with the history of painting, from still life to the chromatic variation on a single motif.