Forget everything you know about chess and visit this exciting
new exhibition.
Art company RS&A launched 'The Art of Chess' in 2003 when
they commissioned five artists to interpret the humble chess set
and the results were exhibited at Somerset House. Since then the
sets have become highly collectable, been shown all over the globe
and a total of 16 artists (including Jake and Dinos Chapman, Damien
Hirst, Yayoi Kusama and Rachel Whiteread) have produced their own
versions.
But from Saturday, for the first time, all 16 sets have been
corralled at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, including the very
first public showing of British artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster's
version. Most famous for their enchanting, ingenious shadow
sculptures, the duo's chess set displays their ongoing fascination
for dead animals. The board is a hand-carved tree stump with pieces
in bronze cast from mummified animals found on their farm in
Gloucestershire; so frogs are pawns and squirrels are kings.
Enjoy the spectacle of these wildly different interpretations
and imagine a game between greats Anatoly Karpov and Garry
Kasparov. A true challenge for these grandmasters; but would they
be distracted by such playful whimsy?
The Art of Chess; 8 September - 3 October 2012
Saatchi Gallery
Duke of York's HQ
King's Road
London, SW3 4RY
www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk
Image Credit: Courtesy RS&A