![]() ![]() Beyond this, a game board’s texture and materiality are equally relevant to its graphic qualities: the surface and “purity” of the object should be a matter of historical significance, a threshold to its former life. ![]() The rhythmic configurations in the square grids of checkers and halma boards the flat architecture of parcheesi, with its four nests flanking a nucleus and divided by compartmentalized paths the sharp hypnotic quality of backgammon’s interweaving dagger-like triangles the harmonious symmetry of the marble-shaped indentations of the hexagram in Chinese checkers and the octagon or cross in solitaire, and the web-like concentric lines in mills offer us-as contemporary viewers-a visual lexicon that is as cohesive and direct as the best works of minimalism and geometric abstraction, which they often precede. In the best of cases, game boards embody this powerful junction of familiar and new information of tradition and innovation, with the latter manifesting itself through various degrees of abstraction, deconstruction, and formal embellishment or distillation. In the informal environment of a young American nation, artists transformed pre-established patterns into personal compositions, taking creative liberties analogous to jazz-if we think about the framework of the game as a basic melody and of each artist’s visual execution as a kind of musical improvisation. Artists used the materials at hand easily accessible, generally native hardwoods and standard oil-based household paint-whose durability could withstand the continuous quiet abrasion of the moving parts on the surface. ![]() In the nineteenth century, the majority of game boards were homemade for personal use or produced in domestic workshops for sale within the immediate community-much in the same way as bird decoys, dolls, and quilts. The most prolific and creative period in the American game board tradition falls approximately between 1820 and the end of World War II, when a general period of prosperity and the mainstream availability of new technologies, particularly radio and television, practically eliminated people’s need to fabricate the means to entertain themselves. Modern board games developed as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of the middle class, but their precursors date back to ancient times-with dice being at the core of humanity’s oldest games. This exhibition thus decontextualizes these works to highlight their concrete beauty, but it also acknowledges the mystery and gravitas that they possess as objects that once participated in everyday life. Created as functional objects by unknown American artists, these examples of parcheesi, backgammon, halma, checkers, Chinese checkers, mills, and solitaire have transcended their original purpose and stand on their own as cousins of modern art. Aligning with Ricco/Maresca’s ongoing mission to promote the crossover of self-taught, outsider, and vernacular art into the modern and contemporary arenas, Play presents a collection of outstanding game boards made between the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |