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The curious relationship between art and chess is celebrated in Iceland at an exhibition of unique chess sets created by contemporary artists including Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Maurizio Cattelan.
"From my close contact with artists and chess players I have come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists."
So said Marcel Duchamp, the French surrealist painter, in 1952, whose interest in chess was such that it was reported he gave up art completely in favor of a career as a professional player of the sport. Certainly, it led to him creating his own fantastical chess set, which has inspired artists ranging from Salvador Dali to Yoko Ono to design the board and pieces required to play of "the Royal Game".
The continued relevance of chess to the creative arts is celebrated at a new exhibition, The Art of Chess, at Reykjavik Art Museum in Iceland. On display are chess sets by contemporary artists including Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Jake and Dinos Chapman. It's a fascinating show, where kings, queens and pawns are replaced with miniature sculptures, household objects and even figurines of Hitler and Donatella Versace.
All 15 of the chess sets exhibited were commissioned by RS&A, a London-based company founded in 2001 with the aim of producing innovative art. Its first project, also entitled The Art of Chess, took its inspiration from a 1944 exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York entitled The Imagery of Chess. This show included work by Duchamp, Alexander Calder, Max Ernst, André Breton, and Japanese artist and designer Isamu Noguchi. The first artists commissioned by RS&A to rethink the traditional chess set were Maurizio Cattelan, the Chapman brothers, Hirst, Yayoi Kusama, and Paul McCarthy, and the most recent board and associated pieces were created in 2008 by Alastair Mackie. Each chess set was produced in an edition of seven, and some are still available to purchase through RS&A.
Open until April 13, the exhibition in Reykjavik will also include discussions on the relationship between art and chess, a family workshop where guests create their own chess sets, as well as chess matches using the chess sets on display.
More info:
The Art of Chess
January 24 – April 13, 2009
Reykjavik Art Museum
+354 590 1200
http://www.artmuseum.is/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-2182/3369_read-1368/date-1301/
RS&A:
www.r-s-a.co.uk
For more information on the history of art in chess see:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3558101/Chess-the-artists-who-want-a-piece-of-the-action.html
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