Designers reinterpret The Games

Olympics, Olympics, everywhere. But whether you’re already sprinting about in anticipation or intending to hide under a large PE sick note for the duration, an exhibition  of beautiful Games-inspired pieces at Gallery Libby Sellers shows that the event can be seen in a more lateral way.

Log Chess Set, by Peter Marigold, 2011. Found wood

Source: Photography Peter Marigold. Courtesy Gallery Libby Sellers

Log Chess Set, by Peter Marigold, 2011. Found wood

While the Olympics celebrates very physical pursuits, this show focuses on quieter games– looking at the more genteel sports of chess, board games and salon events.

The show, neatly entitled Games, has brought together a number of brilliant furniture and product designers to craft their own versions of chess boards, board games and games salon furniture.

Tail Light, by Stuart Haygarth, 2007. Acrylic, tail lights, fluorescent tube.

Source: Photography Stuart Haygarth. Courtesy Gallery Libby Sellers

Tail Light, by Stuart Haygarth, 2007. Acrylic, tail lights, fluorescent tube.

Designers exhibiting work include aberrant architecture, Fabien Cappello, Studio Frith, Alexander Gelman, Paul Kelley, Julia Lohmann, Peter Marigold and Rolf Sachs.

Chess Set, by Simon Hasan, 2012. Patinated brass, leather, hot-rolled steel plate.

Source: Photography Simon Hasan. Courtesy Gallery Libby Sellers

Chess Set, by Simon Hasan, 2012. Patinated brass, leather, hot-rolled steel plate.

The exhibition, which is being designed by Studio Frith, is inspired by a show held the Julien Levy Gallery in New York back in 1944. For the exhibition, Levy, Max Ernst and Marcel Duchamp invited a sparkling list of Modernist artists including Arshile Gorky, Man Ray, and Robert Motherwell to submit specially designed chess sets, art works, musical scores and furniture.

The Levy show, The Imagery of Chess, brought together works from 32 artists: a number carefully chosen as there are 16 pieces to a side on a chessboard. The exhibition opening featured a chess game organised by Marcel Duchamp, in which acknowledged chessmaster George Koltanowski played blindfolded against seven artists, beating all of them except the architect Frederick Kiesler, with whom he drew.

Throughout the show, visitors could also participate in a series of salon events including chess tournaments – something that will be replicated in the Gallery Libby Sellers show.

Weighing up the Competiton, by Rolf Sachs. Brass, Black Enamel, Teak, Felt.

Source: Photography Rolf Sachs Function. Courtesy Gallery Libby Sellers

Weighing up the Competiton, by Rolf Sachs. Brass, Black Enamel, Teak, Felt.

As well as these salon events, Games will also debut a chess -inspired musical composition written by Hannah Kendell and performed specially for the exhibition by Andrew Matthews-Owen with the support of the Richard Thomas Music Foundation. The opening of the show also, handily, coincides with the British Chess Championships.

Games runs from 4 July – 18 August at Gallery Libby Sellers, 41-42 Berners Street, London WlT

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  • Baron November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    They look good – they could even be commercial and fit in with our range at http://www.chessbaron.co.uk. Well done.

  • Andy Southern November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    “Weighing up the competition” would probably work better as a Shangqi (Chinese Chess) game than a normal Chess set.

    Surely the King should weigh more than the other pieces combined?

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