Saturday, December 5, 2009

Play it by Trust

One of the other things that I saw that really blew my mind was a piece by Yoko Ono. I don't care that it was by Yoko Ono that much. What I thought was killer was that it was two chairs and a table with a chess set. All of it was in white. At first glance you think "oh a chess set, ok thats cool." Then the coolest gallery host in the show approaches and he tells me that that this piece is his favorite (amongst a whole set of chess-related art pieces that aren't really connected.) Anyway, this piece is called "Play it by Trust" and on the back of each chair there is a silver plaque that says "Play it by Trust." What's fascinating is that all the chess pieces are white. Therefore each player needs to memorize which pieces are theirs and which are not. This presents an interesting situation when after some time playing your opponent one of you begin to forget which pieces are whose. It is a true challenge and the notion of trust, chess, and the opposition harmonizing like that is pretty fucking incredible. Do you play chess? If not, you should start. Want to hear the bonus? The host asks me to pick up one of the chairs. the chairs are painted in a white enamel and are tall but quite slender. Anyhow, I put my arms around it and.... and... I ... I pulled and it was motherfucking heaviest fucking chair I've ever picked up in my life. True story. The piece is one in 6 in the world and it goes for a hundred grand. There was good chess and great chests too! Among that gallery there were other things like other amazing chess boards, photographs, a motion picture titled "8 by 8" which shows a feature story of an actual chess games -- some hotness dressed in a dress of another time is the queen and some vile dude traps her and kills her. It was rather funny. The "good chess and chest" joke is not mine. It was the host's. I did fail yesterday though. I didn't photograph the 7 foot cheese grater.

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